


Midvale and Mount Helena

by imreading



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Boarding School, Ex-wild child Lena, F/F, I'll put warnings in the notes, Slow Burn, hardcore angst, jock kara, whole lot of repressed emotions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:35:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 81,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22642693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imreading/pseuds/imreading
Summary: Lena goes to Mount Helena and she's made to tutor a jock at Midvale High. Basically another high school AU.WARNING: might be some depictions of violence, assult, abuse later on.
Relationships: Alex Danvers/Maggie Sawyer, Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Samantha "Sam" Arias/Alex Danvers
Comments: 335
Kudos: 1119





	1. Winter Break

Lena had finally secured her social position at Mount Helena Boarding School as another rich kid people only liked when they needed help with their homework. She was at a perfect equilibrium with all the people around her, had finished figuring out who were friends and who were foes. All her grades were at a constant A* and she had easily fallen into the strict routine the school upheld- it wasn't much different from her life at home. After her father had passed away two years ago, and the truth had come out about Lionel being her real father, Lillian packed up all of Lena's belongings and shipped her off to the other side of the country. Her mother couldn’t seem less thrilled to get her out of the way, literally putting her on their jet two days after Lionel’s funeral. It would have been sooner if not for the ‘Luthor appearances’ Lillian constantly reminded Lena she needed to uphold. She was glad to be away from the sterile Luthor Manor anyways.

Since then, she hadn’t seen her mother. She didn’t go home for the holidays or spring breaks. Whenever possible, she stayed at school with the international students. If not possible, she would stay with Lex in Metropolis. He welcomed her with open arms, Lena could tell he was trying to make time for her, between his own studies, integrating into becoming CEO of LuthorCorp and maintaining Lionel's anti-alien views, it was difficult. Lena claimed she didn’t mind beating each of the international students at chess every school break anyway. That’s how her and Jack, a British student from National City, had become such close friends- not counting their vast history in the Metropolis partying scene whenever Jack came to visit that is.

“One time, Lee. I promise, no one’s looking.”

They were sat in the library during winter break, the smell of books and plenty of heaters around to keep them company in the vast room. They had a preferred spot by now; an area at the far end of the library where the Matrons couldn’t hear them, and the younger students wouldn’t go.

Lena glanced around jokingly. Jack was lying, there were four students sat arranged on the sofas behind them. The chess board in front of them was shielded from their view, but Lena could tell they were still paying attention to the game. She recognised them from the school chess club after all.

“I’m sorry dear friend,” she smirked, her apology lacking all sincerity, "but rules are rules.”

And then she traps Jack’s King with her Queen and calls out, "checkmate.”

Jack dramatically falls back into the armchair in defeat, a smile on his face as Lena sets up the board for the next round. “You could’ve let me win that one, you know?” he sighs.

“Where’s the fun in that?” Lena replies.

“You mean, where’s the sadistic-joy-I-get-from-watching-Jack-getting-humiliated-with-each-move-I-make in that,” Jack corrects.

Lena chuckles at his familiar antics. “We can do something else if you like?” she suggests.

Jacks eyes brighten instantly, and his grin becomes so wide it edges on creepy. “Oh Lena, I’ve been waiting all my life for you to say that,” he hoists himself up out of the chair and stands up ridiculously straight, tense with excitement.

The display makes Lena laugh. “Always so dramatic Jack,” she chastises.

He ignores her. His delight is unwavering now. “Meet me behind the gym shed in ten, bring a coat,” he says and quickly disappears down one of the corridors of books. Lena hears the library door open and then fall closed again a moment later.

-

Sure enough, ten minutes later, Lena is stood behind the gym, slightly shivering because she’s still wearing her short, pleated skirt and tights. Her breath turns to mist in the air and it feels like the grass is becoming frosty before her eyes. The black pea-coat she wears keeps her warm though with the hood bought up over her otherwise cold ears. She’s always felt like Little Red Riding Hood in this coat, especially when she was first bought it by Lionel and the hood swamped her, falling down across her face. Now that she’s a little taller and her arms are longer, it fits perfectly. Something her mother mentioned to her as she boarded the plane to leave the Luthor Manor. 'You look like a real lady in that, Lena. Maybe you could begin to behave like one soon too.' 

Jack runs up behind her and grabs at her shoulders, making her jump. He laughs so hard, that he’s doubling over. “Lena dear,” he chokes out between laughs,” you need to relax.”

Lena holds back her smile, opting instead for an eye roll. “What took you so long? It’s freezing,” Lena complains.

His devious grin returns as he takes a bottle of something expensive from beneath his coat. Lena’s eyes grow comically wide when she recognises the brown bourbon in the bottle. “Jack…” she begins.

“Lena,” he begs, already knowing where this is going, "you need this. _We_ need this. Please. Just, let’s relax for one night. Come on, for me?”

Lena sighs, she knows Matron Josephine is off tonight, so they won’t get caught and Jack is right, she does need to relax. Still, she hasn’t drank much alcohol after the whole Veronica… thing. But everyone is on winter break, not a single Veronica in sight. It’s just her and Jack. “Okay,” she gives in, "but don’t tell Sam, she’ll kill us.”

“She’ll kill you,” Jack corrects, already opening the lid of the bottle.

They sit behind the shed of the gym equipment; a huge wooden shed full of everything that makes their lives hell. Not Lena’s particularly, her mother classifies gym class as a waste of time and makes Lena sit in the library doing equations during the lesson time instead. Jack was not so lucky with his father claiming that all boys must experience 'the joy football brings'. Jack obviously disagrees, but nobody wants to argue with Dr Spheer.

Lena spends the whole night laughing at Jack as he impersonates everyone in their lives they hate and Jack laughs as Lena tries her best to solve his science questions whilst drunk, even though he doesn’t know the answer either. Lena loves it like this, when she can forget about her shit mother, unreliable brother, repressed emotions about her dead father, her avoidance of any topic relating to one Veronica Sinclair, and the rushing expectations of being the Luthor Heiress. They both end up stumbling back over to the dormitories, an almost empty Jack Daniels bottle in Jack’s hand. They keep giggling at stupid things, like how Lena trips over a step on their way up to her room and how Jack falls asleep in her bed as soon as his face touches the pillow. Lena isn’t much different, falling asleep immediately too.

\- 

Lena wakes up first. The clock reads 10am. She shoots straight up and instantly regrets it. Black spots appear in her vision and the world begins to spin. Jack, who’s laid beside her in bed with his, usually gelled back, hair all askew, grumpily groans as he sits up too. “I hate you,” he mumbles.

“You suggested it,” she says rubbing at her forehead, "it’s not my fault you're such a lightweight.”

Jack just groans again. Once her head has cleared, Lena pulls herself out of the bed and gathers her coat and shoes up. “How are you standing right now? You drank more than me,” Jack whines.

“Lots of practice,” she replies, the lilt in her voice slipping out.

Jack drags himself out of the snug bed and pulls his own coat back on from where it’d been shucked off in the night. He has his own dorm room, as does Lena, due to their especially rich parents. His room contains one, usually tidy, single bed now with its pillows and quilt all over the place, a wardrobe overflowing with clothes, a ceramic sink with a mirror above it, and Jack’s practically untouched desk. If not for Lena insisting, a book would probably have never been opened on it. All that’s left on there right now is the bottle of whiskey or, as Lena’s thinking as she glares at it whilst she combs down her hair, the culprit for her headache. Fortunately, Jack keeps ibuprofen within his desk draws. She takes two out of a packet for her, and hands another two to Jack. He gratefully waves his hand at her. She throws the comb in his direction, gulps down the pills with a swig of water from his sink, and chuckles at how ridiculous Jack looks sat there on the desk chair with a crumpled shirt on and his crazy black hair all over the place as he tries to stay awake. “I’m going to leave you to wake up,” she announces with her coat on, "see you in the common room.”

Jack groans again at the reminder that the other students are coming back from winter break today.

-

Lena steps out from Jack's room at the end of the corridor. The worst part about crashing in his dorm room is that it’s on the top floor of the boy’s building, meaning she has to walk all the way down through the building in order to leave it. Everyone makes assumptions as to why a girl is leaving the boys dormitories in the morning in the clothes they wore the night before. Lena being a lesbian isn’t that well known, thanks to her stamping down ever rumour that’s ever gotten out about her. This is the only downside of that. She can see the looks all the boys coming back from breakfast or carrying their suitcases to their rooms are giving her. _The smell of alcohol on her coat can’t be smelt that clearly, can it?_

Without incident, Lena dashes across the courtyard separating the two dorm buildings and disappears into the girls wing. She keeps her head down as she passes by all the parents helping their children carrying bags up to their room or the older students loitering in the corridors after weeks of not seeing their friends. Her room, being amongst the oldest students in the school, is also on the top floor. She hurries into the stairwell and dodges people all the way up to the top.

When she’s barely a foot from the door, she hears her name being called out. “Lena,” Veronica jibs out from the door opposite hers. They’re neighbours and once upon a time this was something Lena was grateful for. Now it’s become a curse. At least it’s not Matron Josephine, although Lena isn’t sure which would be worse right now. Lena plasters the fakest smile on her face and twirls around.

Veronica is dressed in her signature tight black jeans, tight red crop top and snake boots -an outfit that’s only allowed during out-of-class hours. Her face is covered in a smirk that makes Lena’s heart skip a beat, but not in the way it used to. “Hey Veronica,” she deadpans, still with the false smile that, she can easily tell, makes Veronica’s skin crawl with annoyance. 

As Veronica’s eyes scan her up and down, like predator assessing its prey, Lena can’t help but feel filthy. Her coat’s dirty from sitting behind the gym shed last night, her hair is sort of a mess, her makeup isn’t exactly at its best and she knows Veronica see’s the hangover in her eyes. Her smug smirk somehow grows even more evident. “How’s Lillian?” Veronica asks, knowing full well that Lena didn’t go home for break.

Veronica probably spent more time with Lena’s mother than Lena had in the last few weeks. Irritatingly, their families share the same city and Veronica’s father had been one of Lionel’s close friends before his death. Now, the Sinclair and Luthor families have dinner parties, not that Lena had ever been to one, and joint-host gala’s together. Lillian had never found out about what happened between the two daughters, though Veronica constantly reminded Lena that all it would take for mother to find out is a phone call. “Same as always,” Lena lies, not giving her the gratification she’s looking for.

Then she swiftly turns on her heel and slips into her room.

-

Lena’s dormitory is basically the opposite of Jack’s. The bed is neatly made up, the wardrobe is organised into her smart clothes and normal clothes- all of which are hung up or folded into draws, and her desk is absolutely covered in textbooks, blueprints, random bits of metal and motherboards, workbooks, empty cups of coffee, the list goes on. She spends hours sat here at night looking over calculations and finding the next big invention to pay for her one-way ticket out of her mother’s grasp. Nothing has made it past Lex quite yet. The first time she’d finished her biodegradable plastic using fungi, she’d made the mistake of showing it off to her brother. She’d thought he’d congratulate her and help her get it out into the world. Rather, he’d told mother and she’d taken the precaution of limiting the time Lena could spend in the school lab unsupervised. She only made that mistake twice again afterwards. Lex’s chances ran out, he always had preferred sucking up to mother over standing up for Lena. The next time (she’d completed her prosthetic hand complete with mechanical receptors and nerve signals) she’d made sure to keep all her blueprints in the locked desk draw and the product itself was hidden in Sam’s room. But Veronica had found out about it when she discovered the sketches Lena had made in her physics textbook one morning whilst Lena was still asleep. Then Veronica went and snitched to mother, same as Lex had, and within the week Lena’s desk draws had been cleared and Sam’s room was trashed with the prosthetic missing. Since then, Lena hasn’t allowed anyone into her room, she rarely made exceptions for Jack or Sam, and kept a safe beneath her unused gym kit for storing any plans or ideas.

Her mother may not live in the same state, but her eyes are everywhere.

Lena proceeded to have a shower and get changed into private boarding school-appropriate clothing: skirt, tights, Advanced STEM Program Summer Camp sweater, and her well-worn Doc’s. A casual blazer thrown on top to get the ‘I’m privileged and posh’ in her look across. As she’s reapplying her makeup, she hears students from all the dorm rooms around hers unpacking and greeting their friends since being away, abruptly reminding her of where she’s meant to be right now.

She darts out of her room, crosses the corridor, jumps down the stairs- Lillian’s voice echoes around her head as she does it 'that’s not very lady like, Lena'-, and out of the girls wing into chilly winter air. Jack’s doing exactly the same thing from the building opposite. They look at each other, laughing at one another, and meet halfway on the path as they go in the direction of the main building’s common room.

-

They get to the common room to find it filled to the brim with posh parents, stuck-up students and many, many suitcases. You can really tell if a family’s rich by how the parents are acting. If the parents are sad, they aren’t that rich. If the parents are frustrated by just being here, they’re rich. If the parents aren’t here at all, they’re filthy rich. That’s how they find their long reigning best friend, Samantha Arias, crushed against the window with a leather duffel bag by her feet and an unimpressed look on her face. She can tell they got drunk without her when she told them not to. “I can’t believe you two,” is all she says, a smile on her face giving away her happiness at seeing them.

“We missed you too,” Jack teases and pulls her into a hug.

Lena chuckles before she’s pulled into the hug too. Both of them choosing to ignore Sam’s red rimmed eyes and exhausted smile for now.

Sam was Lena’s friend first when she first arrived at Mount Helena not long after she had. They met in an economics class. Lena being in a class a year above her own grade and Sam being new to the school and both knowing no-one else in the lesson, they soon became friends. Jack made Sam laugh so they got along well, and the two of them kept Lena balanced. Sam was the mature one, Jack was the childish one. If you can class drinking lots of alcohol and doing calculus homework on cloud 9 as child-like.

They soon find themselves in their favourite spot within the depths of the library. All three of them sat on one stiff, green, leather sofa where, eventually, Sam tells them about how her father wants to move his business’ headquarters to Metropolis, the same place as the LuthorCorp Tower and the Sinclair Casinos. Jack gags at the idea, sarcastically warning her that betraying National City like that would end in her losing his friendship, even though they both know it’s beyond Sam’s control. They like to pretend they aren’t just their parents minions, doing whatever they say and keeping their mild drug abuse below the radar of news outlets for their sake. “Moving the headquarters wouldn’t be so bad would it?” Lena tries to comfort her friend without understanding why she’s upset.

“Except all my friends live there,” Sam whines. 

“Not all your friends,” Jack mumbles.

“And my whole childhood is there, I don’t want to leave it behind,” she says, "I didn’t want to come to this boarding school to leave the city in the first place, and now I won’t even be going back there during school breaks.”

Lena ignores the hurt that strikes in her; she’s never felt that sentimental about anything before. She probably just doesn’t understand. Still, it does hurt when Sam casually says she never wanted to be around Lena at the school, whether she meant it like that or not. The look on Jack’s face tells her he feels the same way. Sam’s father gained his money in her lifetime, she used to go to a normal public high school, with normal high school friends who were all in the normal cheer leading squad. Unlike her and Jack, who were put into private schools and strictly tutored to live up to their parents standards since the day they could talk. They’ve never gone through any of this… homesickness. But Sam is their friend, so Jack cuddles closer to her and Lena suggests, "how about, as soon as we leave Mount Helena-.”

“Mount ,” Jack corrects.

Sam laughs sadly in agreement.

“- We can all move to National City and you can visit your friends whenever you please and we’ll conquer the city and you won’t have to leave your childhood behind. There’s only a few more years at this hell-.”

“ _Literal hell_ ,” Jack cuts in again.

They’ve learnt to ignore him at this point.

“-And after that you can go straight back to National City and make more memories to add to your childhood ones,” Lena reassures her.

And it works, Sam stops looking like she’s on the edge of tears and sits up a little straighter. Back to the Sam they both know. Sam has never been one to share deep emotions like this so openly. Sure, Lena has seen her cry plenty of times. Mainly over boys. Now that she thinks about it, _has Lena ever seen Sam cry about anything other than boys before?_ She doesn’t think so.

Little did the trio know, this would be the first of many moments to come.

-

School started that Monday, less than two days after everyone had arrived back in school. Lena found herself sat in the back of a supra-molecular chemistry class, going over her equations and pretending to pay attention. She’d already read all the content for that lesson the night before, as a quick read before bed, and the teacher’s monotone voice has made it a challenge to try to follow anything he’s saying without falling asleep. The student beside her has already succumbed to sleep in his seat, with his head slowly slipping off his hand. Fortunately for him, they sit at the back of the class where the teacher’s eyesight doesn’t reach without his glasses on.

That is until the end of the class, when suddenly the Mr Gruff’s voice goes up several octaves and he clasps his hands together loud enough to bring anyone asleep abruptly back to life. “Alright class,” he begins, "I’ve got an announcement to make, so pay attention.”

Lena closes her textbook and looks towards the white board where, in black pen, it says ‘good-relations-tutor-project’. “This year, for our chemistry project, we’ve included Midvale High School,” he explains.

Lena recognises the name of the school as the one in the town a mile or so from the Mount Helena grounds. She passed it once when her, Jack, and Sam had skipped an awards presentation at school to go to a gig happening at a local bar. “As the highest STEM achievers at this school, and because the higher ups don’t want you to become too big-headed because of it, we’re putting you in pairs with a student on the Midvale Lions football team,” that earned a few whistles in the direction of Veronica and her lapdogs, "so you can tutor them until their finals at the end of this school year.”

Following the announcement, many of the preps groan angrily. “So we have to use up our limited studying time for a bunch of jocks?” “When am I supposed to help useless muscles in between studying and my fifteen extracurriculars?!” Lena just rolled her eyes and accepting her fate, she didn’t have to worry about her credit score or studying. She doesn’t give it a second thought other than adding it to her MIT application.

-

The following Monday she was sat in the same seat in the back of the class, drawing diagrams of electrochemiluminescence for a new biosensor she’s been debating making in the back of the chemistry textbook, when Mr Gruff puts up the names of the students from Midvale and who they’ve all been partnered with. The name beside hers was one Kara Danvers. That doesn’t exactly sound like a boy’s name, wasn’t it a boys football team? The name meant nothing to her, there was no face or voice, no nothing attached to it. Jock’s had really never been Lena’s type, there weren’t really any at Mount Helena- a selective specialist science school- so she had no idea what to expect, but from what she’d heard they were stupid, sweaty and hyper-masculine. Andrea Rojas, Veronica’s new sidepiece, had mentioned that she once dated a jock from Midvale, and he didn’t even know what the chemical formula of water was. Lena had really low expectations.

At lunch that day, Lena bought up the subject with Sam. She must have known some jocks when she went to public high school, she was a cheerleader after all. They’re sat at the end of a dinner table, Lena just finished teaching Jack about condensation polymerisation equations for his homework, and Sam finishing up her meal. She ate chicken today, which she hadn’t done since she learnt they were kept in cruel poultry farms, but Lena didn't comment on it. “Hey,” Lena cleared her throat, "Sam?”

The older girl in question looked up from where she was putting her plate on top of both Lena and Jack’s stacked ones. “Mhmm,” she mumbled.

“Have you ever met a Jock?” Lena quietly asked, embarrassed she even has to.

It’s not like she could just research it in the library’s textbooks or look it up on her phone, they had no WI-FI - the school was on the top of a hill. There was no other way to find out the information. To add insult to injury, Sam snorts at the question, making Jack look up from his homework. “Really Lena?” Sam laughs, "you people live in a bubble up here.”

“Hey!” Lena defends herself, "you live in the bubble now too.”

That just makes Sam laugh harder. “I’m serious Sam,” Lena admonishes, "I need help with this. I’m being made to do a good-relations tutor project.”

“Oooo,” Sam continues, "sounds fancy, what’s that?”

“When smart kids have help stupid ones,” Jack answers bluntly.

“You mean like how I just helped you with your homework?” Lena quips.

“Har har,” Jack sarcastically replies, turning back to Sam, "it’s with the kids in the town who go to the high school there.” Jack puts on his best principal impression, "it’s to foster good relations with people different from us and promote understanding.”

Sam snorts again, bursting into laughter, Veronica sending the group a disgusted look from her table a few feet from where theirs is. “Anyway, I have to help some Kara girl not fail science and I need help. I’ve never met a jock before,” Lena stresses.

“Calm down Lena. They aren’t wild animals… most of the time. You’ve just got to be patient and take it slow. Not everyone on a sports team is a complete idiot, and you never know, maybe your pupil will teach you a few things,” Sam suggests.

Lena rolls her eyes, even as she’s storing the advice in the forefront of her mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoin it.  
> Sorry if there's any mistakes or anything, I really need to stop writing this at midnight.


	2. Privileged Smart Kids

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena meets her project partner, Kara Danvers, and it doesn't go as expected.  
> Meanwhile Jack is having a crisis and Sam is the cause of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this took long, I have exams left right and centre next month.

The tutored sessions begin on Wednesday. Lena’s already sat through six hours of tediously long lessons, taught Jack about catalytic cracking during her break, and practised her piano scales by the time she’s signing out of the school gates. She was originally going to change into some more casual, normal-teenager clothes, but couldn’t be bothered to go back to her dorm so she’s still dressed in her thigh high socks and school shirt. It’ll have to do. Because the project has to be done on their own terms, the only rule being that they have to do at least 170 hours of work before Midvale’s end of year exams, it means Lena and her ‘partner’ have to arrange the whole thing themselves. For Lena, this involves walking down into Midvale in the dark each Wednesday after dinner, carrying all her textbooks on her back with a huge emerald green scarf covering her face to keep the winter breeze out. Apparently, Kara Danvers is too busy during the day.

The stars in Midvale remind Lena of a trip the family once took, before Lionel got sick, to Norway. The main purpose of the trip was for Lionel to look around a research facility in the country and Lillian had some friends who she hadn’t visited in a while, so they all ended up going. Lex and Lena were left to their own devices with only their chauffeur and security detail for company. Two rich kids bored in a foreign country seemed practically illegal in Lex’s eyes. So Lex dragged Lena along with him to go swim in the hot springs there. They’d ended up staying until it got dark and their skin was wrinkled, but the view was worth it. Lena has never seen so many stars in her life. Logically, she knew there were more stars than she could comprehend in the universe, but to look up into the dark night sky and see them all twinkling down at her from light-years away blew her breathe away. Metropolis was so smothered in pollution that she’d never seen a view like it in her life. She was humbled by it. That was until Lex splashed water into her face, clearly not feeling the same sublimity, and they ended up in a splash war. Now Lex was miles away focused on building up the Luthor empire, Lillian too, and Lena could stand looking up at the universe uninterrupted for however long she wanted. 

Until her phone chimed at least, reminding her that she was supposed to be at Kara’s soon, and the moment was lost. 

-

The house is like something out of a classic American movie: light blue planks make up the outer walls, literal navy-blue wood shutters are on all the windows as if it’s the wild west, there are lanterns and an actual rocking chair on the wrap-around-porch, and the roof’s made from grey slate. Lena feels like she just stepped onto the set of a cliché Netflix movie. She climbs the wooden steps and hears chatter from inside the house, her heart skips a beat. There’s a warm orange glow coming from behind the curtain that covers some glass in the door, and she jumps when she hears laughter from close-up behind it. She only just gets to thank a god she doesn’t believe in for Luthor instincts before the door is being opened and a girl is jogging out, almost hitting her. 

“Woah!” the girl yelps as she grinds to an abrupt halt. 

The girl has serious brown eyes, a sharp, currently bewildered, face, and short, auburn hair. She’s almost a head taller than Lena herself and is dressed in sports wear- shorts and a thermal jacket with jogging shoes on. Is this kid seriously so busy that she forgot about her tutor session? Typical, Lena thinks.

Behind the girl is an even taller, broad man with black hair, with matching, if not kinder, eyes and is dressed in similar jogging clothes, except he also wears sweat bands. He doesn’t seem as confused by her appearance and steps in front of the lanky girl to greet her. “You must be the tutor,” he greets, offering his hefty hand for Lena to take. 

As they shake hands, Lena nods. “Come on in, Kar is just finishing up,” he gestures to the doorway, which Lena goes through with a grateful nod, "I’m Jeremiah.”

“Lena,” she responds. The girl, now fixing a pair of earphones under her hat, fixes her with an unnervingly judgemental once over. Lena gives her a sheepish apology for running into her as she ducks past.

“Kara!” the man shouts up a pair of white wood stairs, then he turns to continue leading her through.

Lena’s caught up in the normalcy of the house as she subtly looks around. There are messily deposited shoes all around the front door, colourful coats hung up on various coat pegs, and keys in a little ceramic bowl with the words ‘A. Danvers. Second Grade’ on it.

As the man guides her further into an open plan house, she sees some soft-looking, knitted blankets thrown across the back of two brown sofas, a mantel piece over a glowing fire with framed photos of Jeremiah and two young girls holding marathon medals, and another of two little girls at the beach each holding up sea-shells. In the Luthor household, the only photo the family had framed was of the four of them sat in rigid poses- Lionel stood at the back with Lillian sat in front, Lex stood beside the eldest man with Lena stood in front of him. Lillian had bought Lena a black dress especially for the occasion. ‘It accentuates those curves of yours Lena, you could at least pretend to be grateful.’ ‘You’ll thank me later.’ ‘Perhaps if you put some effort into your own image then I wouldn’t have to do this for you’. Public appearances and all that. There were no photos of Lena at her first science fair or Lex holding up chess tournament trophies or them all at the aquarium, mainly because her parents never came to those things, but also because Lillian didn’t like sentimental things and 'why bother framing photos that you could look at on the evening news instead?' 

Every square inch of the Danvers household was filled with love and such fondness that Lena had never seen so strongly before in her life. It gripped her heart to be amongst it and it almost terrified her to be in a place so nice. As though her presence alone could smear it. Lena did once have a home like this, before her mother- her real mother- was taken from her, but she barely remembers it and even a four-year-old Lena could sense her mother’s sadness that kept the joy at bay- sadness about what she’ll probably never know. 

“It means a lot to have you do this for us, Lena,” the man says with a hearty laugh, "especially for free.” 

“It’s no problem,” she lies, "I’m glad to help.” 

Lena knows she doesn’t belong here; feeling so distinctly out of place it’s making her heart race. She’d much rather be in her room typing away physics exam answers to stuck university students, or even back at the Luthor Manor in the unused boat house pulling apart speedboat engines and putting them back together again where her mother can’t find her, than stood in the middle of the friendliest place she’s ever been with a strangely calming man explaining how Kara Danvers isn’t getting the grades she needs to get a full ride scholarship to which ever Ivy League University it is. Jeremiah looks proud at the mention of the Ivy League and Lena has to remind herself it’s not the norm for most people to be going to those types of schools. Lena doesn’t think she’s met a single kid her own age that isn’t planning on going to an Ivy League so it’s easy to forget things like that. 

She hears a huff behind her and Jeremiah’s eyes flit in that direction. “Sorry Lena,” he apologises, pulling his sweat band back on his head, "me and grumpy over here were just heading out. I should probably get going before I loose my head.” 

Alex does an unimpressed eye-roll at her father’s joke and the domesticity makes Lena want to offer to switch places with the girl. She'd gladly do it, even if it involved running. 

“You promised we’d get 12 in tonight,” Alex complains. 

“Yeah, yeah,” he waves her off, "we’ll see if you can handle it.”

Twelve what? Lena has no idea, but they’re heading out the door before she can think to ask. “Kara will be down in a minute, make yourself at home,” Jeremiah invites and then the front door closes and the sound of their quick footsteps eventually falls away. 

Now, in the quiet of her own company, Lena can hear the noise upstairs. Heavy footsteps moving quickly across the floor and the muffled sound of music along with gentle humming. Lena twirls around to face the kitchen. It’s a big space. There’s dishes ready to be put in the dishwasher, an open tub of butter and a bag of bread on the counter, a half-read newspaper on the kitchen island beside a cup of what looks to be coffee, and a fridge covered in photos. These ones look more recent than the ones in frames. Instead of little girls, there’s a photo of a football team made up of all boys, except one girl standing out in the middle of the second line. Lena would have to squint to see her properly. Beside that photo is another of two girls this time, one clearly being Alex and the other is much shorter and has long black hair. They’re both sweaty and dressed in loose tank tops with medals hanging from around their necks. 

Lena returns to being stood by the bookcase and pulls out her phone. Jack is texting her about Sam. Apparently, she’s ill and Jack has no idea what to do and needs her to come back because Sam’s refusing to go to the nurses office. Lena has just finished texting Jack instructions about stopping people from choking on their own sick- something Lena had once had to look up herself after Lex had come home from one of his night-time excursions very drunk, when she hears someone coming down the stairs. The bubble comes up to indicating he’s texting back, but she’s interrupted by the person reaching the bottom of the stairs.

Said person is definitely Kara Danvers. Her breath catches in her throat the moment their eyes meet. Fuck. The girl stood before her is like every fantasy Lena never knew she had. The girl has her golden hair pulled back in a tight ponytail, wears a soft light grey sweater and sweatpants with fuzzy yellow socks that make Lena’s smile, and thick-rimmed, black glasses rest on her nose. Her eyes are a crystal-clear ocean that Lena could easily spend years of her life swimming in, but what really catches her is the girls smile. It’s casual and easy and completely comforting with its out of place crookedness. The image Lena had had of a jock in her head, male or female or whatever, was someone huge and terrifying with nothing but taunting eyes and a smirk on their face. But _that_ smile knocks the idea into the mud. 

The fuzzy socks probably help. 

“So, d' you wanna come up?” Kara asks, her voice friendly and welcoming. 

Lena nods and hops up the stairs after her. 

-

Kara’s room is sort of chaos, but Lena can tell she’s just attempted to tidy it by how things are randomly stuffed under the bed. It’s the thought that counts? Football seems to be a reoccurring theme in the square room: there’s two of the recognisable leather balls on a bean bag, football boots thrown under the desk, padding of all sorts in a pile on top of a duffel bag, a helmet or four on top of the wardrobe and so on. Amongst it all are a few DVD cases for old sci-fi movies, classic books by Jane Austen, Louisa May Alcott and Emily Bronte piled up on the desk, a basket filled with records by a case with a familiar record-player brand on it. Things that give Lena the sense of a well-rounded person. It makes Lena wonder, if someone was to go in her room, what would they think of her? Some sort of brainwashed capitalist freak? The next Nikola Tesla? An alcoholic? Probably all three.

She gladly takes off her heavy bag, that Kara (startlingly) easily takes from her and sets by her desk as though it wasn’t filled with a million thick textbooks. She also takes off her woolly scarf and coat, which Kara takes and carefully sets on her bed like a real gentleman, and thanks Kara. The football player clearly blushes as Lena stretches out her arms behind her to loosen up her shoulders after carrying the heavy bag, the action causing her chest to push out. When Lena glances over at Kara, she ducks her head to hide it. Interesting. 

Kara motions to one of the chairs at her desk (the cleanest space in the room) and Lena takes it. Kara sits in the chair beside hers and turns to face her. “I’m Kara Danvers, as you probably know,” she introduces herself, the relaxed smile back on her face.

“Lena,” she chooses not to add the surname, just in case. Her family isn’t exactly world-renowned for being the open-minded, warm or charitable type, and plenty of people don't like them. She doesn't want to risk it.

“I hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long,” Kara apologies, then seemingly remembers to add, "do you want a drink?”

Lena almost laughs but thinks better of it. She doesn’t even think about the valuable time that was wasted as she waited- which says a lot because time is something Lena values above almost all else and wasting it is basically her biggest pet peeve. “I’m alright,” she replies to the offer, "thank you though.” 

Kara shrugs. “Well, let me know if you do.”

“So, to begin with, we could just go through the things you’d like to work on with me and then we can decide a good course of action from there for next week?” Lena suggests. 

“Straight to it, cool,” Kara mumbles as she pulls open a draw on her desk to take out a flimsy folder.

She hands it to Lena who then opens it. She pulls out a stack of papers with ‘F’ symbols and the occasional ‘D’ written on them that Lena hadn’t seen in a class of her own since… well ever. “My chem teacher says I need to go through these and re-take them,” Kara explains, "I was thinking maybe we could do the topics I failed at most first?” 

Lena’s sort of surprised Kara actually put any thought into these sessions at all. She’d just assumed she would have to put all the work in and pretend they were getting anywhere. But no. Kara Danvers might actually want to up her grades. She’s getting ahead of herself a bit here, this girl could still be pretending to make a good first impression at her parents wishes and might actually be an ass. “Yeah, sounds like a good idea,” Lena opens the first paper and immediately finds a question they could work on together. It’s something Lena read about in second grade, but she knows that her working speed wasn’t exactly the standard for second graders. Hydrocarbons, simple and quick to teach.

Lena suggests it. “How about this one?” 

She points to the question and Kara decides to lean dangerously close to her neck to see it, tuffs of her blonde hair tickling her skin. Lena pretends not to notice the shiver that it causes or the strong waft of sweet vanilla and fresh laundry that follows the action. If her heart beats a little faster, it’s only because she’s nervous of the new place she’s in. “Oh, uhuh, definitely this one,” Kara agrees, pointing to the diagram above the question, "I can never remember what this one is.” 

“That one? It’s an alcohol. See? This O-H shows it’s functional group.”

“Functional group?” Kara questions, looking at Lena like she just recited pi.

It’s cute, in a puppy sort of way. Lena can’t help but laugh. She definitely isn’t laughing so she can look anywhere but the tendons in Kara’s neck as she strains it with the pure confusion written across her features. Maybe this wasn’t going to be so bad after all.

-

By the end of the session, Lena has Kara doing condensation polymerisation equations one after another easy peasy. Kara isn’t bad at chemistry at all. Her teacher must be really bad or marks _way_ too harsh or something because she can clearly do the work. They’ve gotten through the whole of the topic within the hour and Lena almost has fun doing it. Almost. There are still a million things she should be doing with her time (in particular the three exam papers sat on her desk right now) and a few she’d rather be spending her time on (like the new chess board Lex bought her for Christmas that she hasn’t even un-boxed yet) that help to reign in any fun that could be had helping Kara with chemistry. Lena Luthor’s time isn’t something that’s easily bought or, more so, wasted. 

After checking Kara’s answers, she starts packing away her things. “Maybe you should check if your teacher is actually teaching these things properly in class if you don’t know them, because I don’t think you have a problem with chemistry. You understood this topic fine,” Lena says. 

“I think it’s all down to who’s teaching it,” Kara compliments.

Lena, honest to god, blushes. Something she hasn’t done since she was ten. Jack would have a field day with this if he was here. “Thank you, Kara,” Lena says surprisingly calmly, "would you like me to take a look at your exam papers for next week so I can make a plan for future lessons?” 

“Oh yeah, sure,” Kara says and hands her the flimsy folder filled with her failed exam papers, "sounds perfect.”

Just as she’s finishing the word ‘perfect’, their eyes meet and Lena blushes for a record breaking second time. Kara herself has a hard time keeping her heartbeat steady - and that's saying a lot considering she can run faster than a bullet without it speeding up. They both quickly turn from the conversation and back to clearing their things away. 

Lena zips her bag up and slings it across her shoulder. Kara passes back her coat and scarf efficiently and leads her to the door. They make it down the stairs in silence and Kara goes to open the door. 

Before she does, she says, "thank you for coming Lena. I look forward to our next... meeting.” She says the next part quite sheepishly, "you’ve sort of surprised me, to be honest. I thought people from Mount Helena were just privileged smart kids. I didn’t think you’d bother with actually teaching me, but you really took the time to make sure I understood everything you said. It was… nice, considering how slow I can be.” 

“I don’t know who’s told you your slow, because you weren’t slow at all today,” Lena says sincerely, chuckling at the next part, "and believe me, I am one of the privileged smart kids at Mount Helena. I’m just one of the less egotistical ones.” She changes the subject to something that doesn’t make her think of the childhood isolation that she endured that caused that. “Besides, you caught me off guard too. From what I’d heard about high school football players: you're bullies, have no self-awareness, and can’t tell the difference between left and right. But those stereotypes were blown out of the water today.” 

“To be fair to you too, there are a few assholes on like that on the team. Don’t worry though, I was bought up to be a proper gentle-lady,” Kara says the last part with a posh British accent that makes Lena laugh. 

“Clearly,” she says. 

Car lights shine through the windows as a car pulls up onto the drive. “Ah, that’d be Eliza," Kara says, "see you next week?” 

Lena nods. “Same time?” 

“Sure. Let me get your number so I can tell you if anything comes up." 

Lena’s hand almost trembles as she takes her phone from her pocket and hands it to Kara. Lena stares at her worn oxford brogues as Kara puts her name in the contacts as ‘KD’. Then she hands the phone back and opens the front door. “Bye then,” Lena says, a smile on her face, and steps out onto the porch. 

“See y’ ‘round, Lena,” Kara calls back, that perfect crooked smile on her face. 

Lena ties her scarf tightly around her neck as she swiftly avoids bumping into whoever it is walking up the drive. Behind her she hears, “how was book club?”

And then Lena is marching back up the hill to Mount Helena with a warm feeling in her chest and her mind cursedly preoccupied. 

-

She doesn't get long to think back on the session however; as soon as she arrives at the girls wing, she has a red-cheeked Jack rounding on her with his shirt sleeves uncharacteristically rolled up and his collar undone. 

“What took you so long? I texted you a trillion times! Sam is sick!” Jack scowls. 

“What?” Lena hadn’t heard any notifications go off. Then again, it’s not like she was listening for them. “What happened??” 

“I have no idea. She’s in your room, she went looking for you,” Jack says.

“My room!? We have to get her to her own room, we can’t get in trouble with the matrons again,” Lena intones. 

It’s a good job they all have their own rooms now and don't have to share with the other students, like they did in their freshman and sophomore years, otherwise they'd be seriously fucked.

“I know that. Every time I tried to get her to stand up, she was almost sick. She’s asleep on your bed now,” he explains. 

“Did she take something? Drink anything?” Lena questions as they quickly and quietly rush up the stairs. 

“No, no. I was with her the whole evening,” Jack answers.

“What? Then why isn’t she in your room??” Lena challenges. 

“She wanted you. Said she needed to ask you something. Kept crying about it too. I don’t know. She was sick and then she was fine and then she was sick again,” he says.

“Okay, okay. I’m... sorry for snapping.” 

“It’s fine.” Jack shrugs.

Lena sighs as they reach the door to her dorm, knowing it wasn't fine but that right now wasn't the time to delve into it, "let’s get this sorted out then.” 

-

Sam looked fine and Lena's heart immediately calmed with the knowledge of it. Jack has always been one for over-dramatizing things. Her hair was a little messy, and her clothes slightly askew, but that could simply be put down to a restless sleep. The only thing out of place was the open window and the strong smell of strawberries. Lena tilts her head in confusion. 

“Sorry, I had to use your spray,” he gestures towards the strawberry perfume-bottle on her sink. 

“It was probably called for,” Lena whispers. 

They both turn back towards the sleeping girl curled up on Lena’s white sheets, vulnerability and comfort radiating from her. That's when it hits Lena.

“It’s okay Jack,” Lena decides, "...I’ll text you if I need any help.” 

"What? Aren't we going to move her?" he asks. 

Lena shakes her head.

“What about Matron Josephine? She’ll call your mother when she finds out. You’re on your ninth strike already,” Jack warns. 

“It’s alright. I don’t want to wake her yet,” she replies.

“Okay. Fine then.” Jack looks defeated, knowing what’ll happen to Lena when her mother finds out she's been breaking rules, but also knowing there’s no point in trying to talk her out of it now that she’s made up her mind. 

He silently slips from the room to go back to his own dorm. Lena gets changed into her night-clothes and slides in behind Sam, pulling the covers up over the both of them. Sam grumbles at being moved, her eyes stay closed and her cheek presses harder into the pillow. Lena sadly smiles. She knows what Sam needs to ask her. All the signs have been there. 

She’s been putting two and two together for a while now, and so has Sam apparently. 

Her friend doesn’t eat the peach slices that she loves at dinner anymore. In the classes they share, Sam spends half her time going to and from the bathroom. She smelt the change in shampoo Lena used yesterday that nobody else had noticed. Using the nurses office isn't even an option for something like this and Lena is the only person Sam knows who has access to the Midvale Pharmacy without it looking suspicious. She could just pop in and out before her tutoring session easy-as-anything, nobody at school would ever know.

So, she just lets the girl sleep consequences be damned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I changed tenses a tonne, so sorry about that.  
> Thanks for reading and I hoped you liked it!


	3. Lillian visits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This got a lot darker than I expected...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A quick FYI: Kara isn't in this one- this is gonna be a pretty slow burn fic, don't worry tho- smut will ensue (eventually).  
> Also WARNINGS: physical and emotional(?) abuse

The next morning went exactly as Lena expected. 

They were awoken at 6 AM by the door flinging open and Matron Josephine stomping in. Her black pinafore and the sliver cross hanging around her neck blocking the view of a barely awake Lena. Sam, beside her, has groggily sat up too and is looking concerningly green. 

“Lena Kieran Luthor,” Matron Josephine tuts, a smug look on her wrinkled face. 

Through the wide-open door, Lena can see an equally smug looking Veronica Sinclair staring in. “This is your last strike girl,” the Matron says, "you know what that means.”

Sam looks at Lena with tears in her eyes. Sam and Lena both know what it means, it’s the Matron who doesn’t understand. Lena attempts her most convincing smile to let Sam know it’s okay, but before she could see if the smile reassured her friend or not, Sam is dashing across to her sink and emptying the contents of her stomach into it. Everyone winces at the outburst. Matron Josephine only has to take one glance from a sick teenager to the half-empty bottles casually sat on Lena’s desk to make the assumption that they’d been drinking. And clearly Veronica notices that too because her snickering speaks volumes in the hallway. 

“This calls it Luthor,” Matron Josephine snaps, "I will, personally, be calling your _mother_. I’d like to see what she makes of your night-time dalliances. It’s about time, if I do say so myself.” The Matron storms back out of her room, leaving the door open for Veronica to get her snide comment in.

“With what’s being said about your brother, I don’t suppose Lillian is going to be very patient this time either,” she smirks. 

Lena slams the door and goes over to open her bedroom window again. 

-

Once Sam has finished holding onto the sink for dear life and tidied herself up, she collapses onto the bed and wraps the quilt comfortingly around herself. Meanwhile, Lena gets dressed into her longest, most respectable skater skirt, freshest white shirt and thickest black tights- something suitable for a Luthor to be seen in. She makes sure her hair is extremely well brushed as Sam begins to tear up again. “What’s wrong Sam?” Lena asks her softly, looking at her through the mirror and verging-on-violently getting the brush through a serious knot in her hair.

“You got in trouble,” Sam says, her lip quivering like a two-year-old denied of ice cream. Lena is unfamiliar with this version of Sam- an emotional version. Usually Sam was the one who kept them all in place and made sure they drank enough water when they were hungover (teen drinking is a serious problem within the 1%. Like, seriously serious). 

“It’s okay Sam,” she says, "I knew it would happen.” 

Her words have the opposite effect on Sam than what she was hoping for and her eyes begin to really water, a few stray tears falling down her cheeks. Lena quickly stops her brushing and crosses the room to embrace her crying friend. “It really is okay Sam,” she assures.

“Your Mum,” she argues. Sam was there the last time Lena got ten strikes on her hall card, although only as a class-peer back then. 

“It’ll be fine,” Lena says, but she knows it won’t be. Last time Lillian was called in- when Veronica had spiked her drink with what she thinks was acid and she couldn’t get out of bed for a week- Lena ended up with a bruised neck and two sprained fingers. 

As Sam continues to sniffle, Lena realises this isn’t really the cause of her crying. Sam doesn’t cry over nothing. “Sam,” Lena sits back so she can look into her hazel eyes. She needs her point to get across. Lena knows saying the words out loud might be too much for her already overwhelmed friend, but she needs Sam to know this. “It’s going to be okay,” and she says it with as much sincerity and conviction that she can muster and sees the understanding dawning in Sam’s eyes. 

Sam bursts with a sob, "what am I gonna do, Lee?” 

“We are going to do whatever you decide. It’s your choice, but I am going to be here with you the whole way. The WHOLE way,” she answered honestly, "starting next Wednesday. I can go straight to the pharmacy.” Lena has the sneaking suspicion that she may have to go for herself for some pain killers after the meeting with her mother anyways. 

For a while they sit there with only Sam’s muffled crying breaking the silence every now and then. 

“I don’t know what I want to do,” Sam finally says, crying into Lena’s V-neck.

“Don’t worry Sam,” Lena strokes her hair soothingly, "we’re smart. We’ll figure it out.” 

-

Lena spends all day in the library where she serves out her detention. From her spot at one of the antique library tables, she can see the football field. So, instead of spending the whole time testing her ability to recount up to 100 figures of pi like last time, she gets to watch Jack avoid getting any mud on him for two hours. He almost miraculously makes it all the way to the end of the lesson without a single bit of dirt on him. But, barley minutes before the end, the ball is suddenly flying in his direction. He ends up getting completely stampeded by all the boys playing and doused in a heavy coating of mud. Lena almost falls off her chair with laughter at his extremely camp reaction of throwing a hissy fit in the middle of the field. She can’t help it, even as the librarian storms in her direction with what she knows will be a half-hour long lecture. 

It’s better to be told off for the next half-hour than thinking about Lillian Luthor’s Porsche arriving on the school grounds anyhow. Just the thought of it is enough to make her stop laughing. 

-

Matron Josephine collects her from the library at 6 PM, when everyone else is at dinner. They cross the quad as she prattles on about her phone call with Lena’s mother. How they agree on how ungrateful she’s behaving, how lucky she is to even be at the school, how merciful Lillian is for letting her stay at the school- when Lena clearly doesn’t deserve it. Lillian has always been good at making things out as though she’s the one who needs the sympathy. Lena supposes that’s how she sees herself: the benevolent mother who took in her husband’s own bastard child without regard for how it would affect her to have something around constantly reminding her of his infidelity. What a fucking _hero_ she is. 

Lena spots Lillian’s security detail first. A bull-necked man in a pristine suit and a Rolex around his wrist, stood alert against the black Porsche that always haunted her nightmares when she was little. As she rounds the corner to the front of the administrative building, she also sees one or two reporters at the front gates of the school. Reporters? Lena’s pretty sure her misbehaviour doesn’t warrant any audience. She wonders what Lillian has been up to to bring the paparazzi all the way across the county with her. They eagerly snap a few shots of her and the Matron as they walk towards the old brick building. Lena knows they could have gone in through the back door to avoid the press, but she also knows Matron Josephine likes the attention- even if it isn’t directed at her. 

They pass the front desk and many head offices, until they reach the correctional office or, more recently, Matron Josephine’s office. The Matron opens the door for her to step inside and follows in afterwards, pushing Lena further into the room. Lillian is sat on the leather chair behind the Matrons desk, sunglasses folded in her hand and hair in a tight bun. “Thank you, Matron,” Lillian says, her voice sharp and severe. It makes Lena flinch. 

Matron Josephine nods gladly to Lillian before stepping back out of the room and closing the door behind herself. 

Being left alone in the room with Lillian feels like if someone left a bunny rabbit in a room with a starved fox. She has the urge to run far, far away. But Lena has no way out and all she can do is force her feet forward. She swallows the lump in her throat. “Mother,” she regards the older woman. 

“You look ridiculous. What happened to those dresses I sent you before Christmas?” Lillian chides.

“They were too big,” Lena mumbles. They were something similar to what Lillian is dressed in now: a dress that shows off everything Lena spends her time hiding. 

“Speak up, you’re a Luthor for goodness’ sake,” Lillian finally meets Lena’s eyes with her cold grey ones. Lena was always proud of her green eyes, neither Lionel nor Lillian had them. 

“They were too big,” Lena repeats through gritted teeth. 

“Well at least you’ve lost some of that childish weight then,” Lillian sighs. She gives Lena a drawn-out once-over. “You’re beginning to look more like the woman you were raised to be. Still, you could have at least tried to brush your hair, if not put it up.” Lillian only says that knowing Lena spent a lot of her time prior to this doing exactly that. “Especially with what’s going on with Lex in the news at the moment. The paparazzi followed me here all the way from the airport this morning. I hope this vagrant look your trying to achieve isn’t put on the cover of the tabloids. Your appearance matters dear, god forbid anyone who matters was to see you like this,” she says, "we can’t let you keep staining the Luthor name like this now can we? I’ll send you some new clothes before the next season.” 

Lena hadn’t heard any news about Lex, but she supposes things have been busy for her recently. There’s no point in asking Lillian about it, the only thing that comes out of her mouth is lies. Even worse though is that she’ll have to donate a whole wardrobe’s worth of clothes to the Martian Rights Foundation… again. 

Lillian seems to remember why she’s here then because her face turns to pure stone and any interest that once graced her face is replaced by pure, red hot, molten anger. “Sit down. We need to have a chat.” 

Lena hesitates, which is a mistake because Lillian isn’t in the mood to wait. She grabs Lena’s wrist; her nails painfully digging into her skin and jolts her forward and down into the chair. When Lena winces as the nails pull on her skin, Lillian tightens her grip. She can feel the bruises they’re going to leave forming already but manages to keep her face hard as steel this time. She curses the tears that spring into her eyes. 

“You have no idea, do you? What kind of trouble you put me through in getting you into this school, what with how you used to behave?” Lena may have had a slight drug abuse problem when she started out her teen years; Lionel was away with work all the time, Lex had left for MIT and Lena was left alone with no-one but Lillian to torture her day in day out, and a wine cellar full of more than just wine. Who could blame her really? That’s when she befriended Veronica. It’s a surprise she’s still alive really, since that wasn’t really her aim at the time.

Lillian opens the office window, as Lena does as she’s told and places herself on the edge of her chair. She lights one of her skinny cigarettes even though smoking is banned in a public building. One of the many things Lillian doesn’t seem to care about.

“Nobody wanted you Lena, it was lucky Mount Helena even accepted. If you didn’t have that surname, where do you think you’d be?” A question Lena always wished she’d had the chance to find the answer to. “You’ve always been so selfish, only thinking about yourself. You wanted to get drunk with your friend, did you? Wanted to drag our family further through the mud again, huh?” Lillian explodes, "having you in the family was enough of a smear as it is, let alone all the things you keep on doing. You, of all people, need to prove yourself worthwhile, but all you’ve done is disappoint so far. I could have left you with your old tutor and a straight-jacket, God knows it’s what you deserve.”

As she goes on speaking, she digs harder and harder into Lena’s forearm, so hard that she draws blood without even noticing. “And I’ve read your hall card- three of the events in which another girl was found in your room. This has got to stop Lena,” Lillian scoffs, "this little _phase_ of yours has got to end. Word is spreading at home. How do you expect a boy to want to date you if you keep on with this aberrant obsession? Or do you need reminding of the summer camp spot I’ve reserved just for you?”

Lena most certainly doesn’t need reminding of the conversion camp just outside Arlington. That ‘summer camp’ has an extremely secure place in her memory from when Lillian took her on a tour of the place once. 

She shakes her head. The older woman rolls her eyes, but finally lets go of Lena’s arm. Lena almost cries with the relief of it. Only to have Lillian press the hot end of her cigarette to the exposed skin at Lena’s wrist. White-hot pain sears up her arm from the place on her wrist. She immediately pulls back, crying out, but the damage has been done. There’s a flaring, burnt mark there. That’s what finally lets the tears flow. Lillian continues, she speaks louder now, "use your words. If you want to be a Luthor, you have to act like one.” 

“No, I don’t need reminding of my space,” she chokes out. 

“Good,” the woman smiles a pleased smile. She closes the window of the office and sits back in her chair. “No more girls in your room, no more alcohol, no more sneaking out, no more of any of that. I sent you here to behave and that’s what I expect from you.” 

Lena holds her arm tight as the pain pulses along it, tears still spilling form he eyes. Lillian unfolds her sunglasses again, as though she can’t stand to see Lena like this. As though it’s a bad soap opera she’s been forced to watch and not the girl she claims to of raised crying before her. 

“Less of that now Lena,” she sighs, "you’ll ruin your makeup.” 

She really does try to stop the tears. It just causes her body to shake instead which hurts her arm more. All she can do is cry and wince. 

“Now, earlier, Matron Josephine gave me a look at your report for this year. Principal Scott has said that you’re working ahead of the students even two years above your own, let alone the ones in your own year. He’s suggested that you apply for MIT for next year and I’m going to look into the business minor courses you can take there. Not that you’ll ever need them for R and D, but it may be useful to know anyway. Perhaps you could graduate a year or two early with your PhD. What do you think?” 

Lena knows the PhD is only something she added to keep Lena away from LuthorCorp for as long as possible while also graduating MIT early to keep up appearances. Lillian had her life planned out from the day she was adopted it seems. The boarding school and Lionel’s death was only a bump in the road for her. 

Lillian is an influential board member, Lex is Chief Executive Officer, and Lena will be put in the basement of LuthorCorp Tower receiving none of the credit for her own work. Just like Lillian intended. Lena doesn’t even dare think about not joining LuthorCorp after school. Her mother may not be her biggest fan, but Lionel always was. And LuthorCorp is her father’s legacy, not Lillian’s, so she’s going to work there and hopefully by the time she does Lillian will have passed her shares on to Lex. 

The thought of it cheers Lena up a little bit. 

-

As Lillian is about to step out into the view of a few reporters and several photographers, she turns to Lena. “Oh dear, I almost forgot.” 

She opens her black, leather handbag and pulls out a thick, A4, brown envelope, “Lex told me to make sure you got this.” She pushes the envelope into her arms and Lena feels like throwing it back a her. She doesn’t want shit from Lex. 

Before she can though, Lillian disappears back into her sleek black car with nothing more than a final warning for Lena about the ‘summer camp’ in Texas and a parting nod. Lena is led out of the administrative building- through the back doors this time. She crosses the grounds to the girls wing before Matron Josephine can think to stop her. Within seconds, she’s racing up the several flights of stairs and not slowing, even when her lungs burn, until she reaches the door to her room. She hurls Lex’s parcel across the room to her desk (taking a few cups down with it), quickly slides a chair beneath the door handle to keep it locked shut, and finally throws herself under the covers of her bed, violently sobbing into her mattress.

Lex knew Lillian was coming and didn’t even try to stop her, didn’t bother to help Lena this time. Lex has always known about how their mother treated her, but Lillian never did any of it when he was around. She never wanted her image in his mind to be ruined. But Lex always bought her cold compresses when her cheeks would sting from the back of Lillian’s hand and got her frozen pea’s when her foot would swell up from the heel of Lillian’s shoes. Lex still knew what his mother was like despite her efforts to hide it. 

Maybe he’d forgotten about it, or maybe he’d just ignored it this time. 

Fuck him, Lena hates him anyway. Hates how he gets away with everything. Hates how he gets to love whoever he wants. Hates how he gets to go anywhere he wants. Hates how he never had someone telling him he wasn’t good enough, telling him he didn’t look good enough or work hard enough or made it up to the Luthor name. Hates how perfect he seems to be. Lex never had to prove himself to be a Luthor ever.

Lena doesn’t even know why she bothers to keep up with the impossible standards anymore. Lex isn’t the brother she once had motivation to work hard for and Lillian loves to feign caring when she cares the least, and Lionel left her with the both of them. 

She had been angry about that for a long time after he died. These days it just makes her sad. 

The only reason why she hasn’t taken her so called presumptuous brain and ran away to Thailand yet is because she’s just so fucking persistent. One day she will prove she’s more Luthor than Lillian or Lex or even Lionel have ever been.

The, now lessening, pain in her forearm is a well-enforced summary of Lena’s childhood. Spending so much time away from her stepmother made Lena ignorant and over-confident. She forgot there are rules she must live by and expectations she has to meet. She forgot and now she’ll have a scar on her wrist to always remind her. 

Just picturing Lillian’s disappointed face boils her veins and Lena can’t contain it. She’s forcing the covers aside, ripping open the chess-set from Lex, throwing on her trench-coat and dropping a bottle of her strongest Mezcal into the deepest pockets of her coat before she even registers what she's doing. Quickly bounding back down the steps of the girl’s wing, her footsteps are hasty as she heads for the gym shed in the dark. Only a few students still mill about, most of them are inside to escape the cold. But Lena doesn’t even feel the chilly wind as she moves, too intent on her goal. 

There’s no-one there when she arrives- no one would be foolish enough to risk hypothermia besides an enraged Lena Luthor. Lena forcefully throws the chess set onto the floor, and pulls a nearly dead zippo lighter and the bottle of Mezcal out from the deepest depths of her coat pockets. She pours the bottle's contents onto Lex's expensive gift and drops the lighter on top. Flames immediately erupt from the wooden case despite its thick varnish. How fitting, Lena thinks, as she watches them flicker before her eyes. 

The flames go out well past curfew, but no-one’s come looking for her yet so Lena stays sat outside, her stinging cheeks soothed by the winter air. 

-

The next morning Lena is woken up at 6 AM by someone pulling her up off the ground. “Don’t kidnap me,” she grumbles, barley awake yet. 

All she feels is her damp clothes from the night and her numb fingers from the cold. Her legs are wobbly as she’s made to stand. 

She hears Jack’s sad chuckle beside her, "I won’t. Promise.”

_Why is he sad? It wasn't his chess set she burnt._

“I’m not hungover,” Lena tells him as she leans into his comforting, warm arms. She realises that’s what he’ll be assuming, and rightfully so. She has an empty bottle of extremely strong Mexican liquor at her feet and a headache from all her pathetic crying from the night before. Lena would think the same if she was in his position. 

“Of course not Lee,” he says it as though he doesn't believe her with his voice gentle and quiet. She can picture his pitying face. 

“I promise I’m not,” her tired slurring isn’t helping her argument. 

He softly chuckles again and guides her along to the girls wing before anyone else wakes up to spot them. 

-

The next time she wakes up, it’s Sam who’s there. Lena sits up from the warmth of her bed and looks around, her head fuzzy. She could’ve sworn it was Jack who woke her up earlier. 

As if Sam had read her mind, she answers her unasked question, “Jack’s gone to get us some breakfast.” She doesn’t even look up from her book as she says it. Lena can tell she’s disappointed, although not because Lena’s done anything wrong per sae. Lena knows what this is about, though neither of them will say it. 

“Sam-,” Lena’s cut off. 

Looks like they will be talking about it after all. 

“I just want you to know that you can talk to me or Jack when you need us,” Sam says, "… is there anything you want to tell me?” 

Lena sighs. She knows she can trust Sam, she’s one of her best friends. It’s just feels like there’s a hand eerily similar to Lillian’s wrapped around her throat and keeping her from saying anything at all. “Lillian and I had a fight,” Lena half-lies, "that’s all.” 

“A fight? Is that why you drank?” Sam asks, finally looking up from her book. 

Of course Jack had told Sam about her past… issues. Typical. “I didn’t drink Sam,” Lena sighs again. 

“What’s this then?” she questions, holding up the clear glass bottle. 

“It’s Mezcal,” Lena explains tiredly, "the ethanol content is high so it’s pretty flammable. Perfect for burning rare chess sets for example.”

Sam takes the answer for now and sets the bottle back down. “What was the argument about then?” she asks, more casual now. She doesn’t want to scare Lena away when she's only just gotten her to open up.

“She wants me to apply for MIT,” Lena mumbles. Which isn’t exactly a lie, is it?

It takes Sam a second to absorb what she’s said and then her eyes grow comically wide. Sam had expected maybe for once for Lena to tell her about her mother's abuse _or anything about her father at all_ , the only way she had even known Lena’s father had passed away was through what she saw on the news about it. That’s the only way she ever learnt anything about Lena’s family besides what Jack had told her. “MIT?? Already?”

“Apparently Principal Scott said I’m ready,” Lena says as she rubs her palm over her forehead.

“MIT... as in the top university in the world??” Sam says, still grasping the whole idea. 

“Yes, I know that Sam. Both my father and brother went there,” Lena snaps. 

“I’m sorry. I’m just… It’s just… _next year?_ ”

Sam needs Lena to stay at Mount Helena with her, or wherever it is she ends up, once her secret can’t be hidden. She needs Lena now, she can’t go and live all the way in Massachusetts. 

“Next year. She wants me to do business as my minor- which I don’t even think they do at M.I.T- and then complete my degree within half the time to start my PhD and still be able to graduate early before I’m too old to be appealing to men,” Lena rants, scoffing at the last part. 

Sam is lost in thinking about what dealing with her current predicament without Lena would be like. Lena is the rock that holds them all together. Without her, Sam doesn’t even know how she’d cope, especially not with Jack by herself. 

“Lena, Lena,” Sam cuts off her ranting, "what do you mean next year?” 

“I know Sam. It’s like three years too early,” she says, still not catching what Sam’s getting at, "but three years too early is three years too late for Luthor standards.” 

“You can’t go next year,” Sam states. 

“Believe me, I don’t want to,” Lena falls back onto her bed. 

“No Lena. You’re not understanding. By next year I’ll… I’ll have a kid,” she spits the words out like they’re poison. 

That finally silences Lena’s swirling mind. 

She promised they’d do this together. She looks over to where Sam is sat in her desk chair to see the girl almost hyperventilating with thoughts of raising a child alone. That means she’s decided to keep it then. Lena thinks to ask about the father of the child but thinks better of it. For another time perhaps. 

She pulls the covers off herself and kneels down with Sam’s hand clasped within her own. “Calm down,” she says softly, "I’m not going to leave you. Let’s face it, by the time that zygote is out of you, you won’t be at Mount Helena anymore so you can just come with me. I can already picture it. Us three in Massachusetts. We’ll live in an apartment with a sky-view and Jack will have to make us pancakes every morning.” 

Lena likes the idea of that. She knows no woman would ever be able to stay with her whilst Lillian still walks the Earth, but her mother had nothing against the Spheer family and Samantha Arias hasn’t even registered in Lillian’s mind so there’s no reason why she couldn’t live with them? Sam must like the idea too because she cracks a smile as she fiddles with Lena’s fingers. 

“Jack doesn’t know how to cook,” Sam mumbles.

“Yeah,” Lena grins, "but it’d be fun to watch him try.” 

They both manage a laugh at the image of Jack covered in flour, trying to get eggshell out of a cracked egg yolk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My exams start tomorrow and won't end until early summer, so the uploads will be a lil all over the place.  
> Sorry in advance.


	4. Blue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is for thirsty Lena Luthor basically

Like Lena had promised, she goes to the pharmacy on Wednesday. 

For some reason, she bothers to change her clothes for the tutor lesson this time. Maybe it was to impress a certain blonde or maybe it was because she spilt ink on her blouse. Maybe she spilt ink on it on purpose. Nobody has to know the truth. 

Lena doesn’t really own anything casual, not even a pair of jeans. She discovers this as she’s going through her draws searching for anything casual at all. Anything other than a white shirt would be enough at this point, but she doesn’t even have that. Well, she does have a black shirt. It'd one reserved for funerals though, so she can’t exactly wear that. And she has plenty of tops she used to wear to clubs when she was sixteen, but an inundated, overlooked teenager isn’t exactly what she’s going for anymore. There is one option though: Lena could wear her pyjama top. 'Pyjama top' makes it sound lame, but this t-shirt wasn’t exactly meant to be a pyjama top in the first place, it was meant for Lena to wear on a plane ride once when they went on a school trip to Iceland to learn about geothermal energy. Lena ended up wearing a blouse in the end; Veronica said she looked like a hippy in the green Henley top. So Lena has only ever worn it to bed since. 

She puts the long-sleeved top on, undoing the top few buttons to expose her collarbones, or, as Sam likes to call them, ‘catnip for the boys’. It might work on girls too, there's no harm in testing it. For science. 

She tucks the top into her flared skirt, pulls up her signature thigh high socks that her mother hates and shrugs on her black pea-coat. Her bag isn’t so full this time; she has a better idea of what she needs to bring to the tutoring sessions, so it’s lighter. She’s got the feeling Kara Danvers is more of a bright-colours-and-pretty-pictures sort of studier, rather than a repetition-and-reinforcing studier like Lena is. As a result, she’s packed some coloured pens to go along with the textbooks. As soon as she steps out into the cold, she wraps her scarf around her face all the way up over her nose to keep the cold out and heads towards the school gates.

-

Midvale is a small town not too far from National City. Perfect for commuting-parents with large families or the elderly wanting to go somewhere quieter. Not so good for teenagers. She figures this out on her way to collect Sam’s tests; as Lena walks through the main street of Midvale she sees three bars which could honestly be as old as Midvale itself, one or two coffee shops, a small library, and not much else. She sees a sign for a park and a high school, but that’s just about everything Midvale has to offer. Lena could picture herself to be very happy here in this normal little town if only she’d been born with parents more like Kara’s and less like… hers. In the grips of mid-winter it looks almost deserted, but with the ocean not so far away she can picture it as a hot spot for tourists in the summer. And, Lena knows for sure, Midvale is beautiful in the Fall. She’d seen it in a polaroid picture on the cork board in Kara’s room - one of her looking very guilty with Alex stood beside her in a shoulder brace and the trees with their orange and brown leaves on the ground around them. 

She reaches the pharmacy at the end of the main road. It’s a small, painted-green building with the faded white letters ‘P-A-R-M-A-C-Y’ spelt out on the front. She steps inside the empty shop and is met with the sterile smell she’s come to relate to her father after his brief time in the hospital. All hospitals and doctor’s surgeries smell the same, and apparently so do Pharmacies. She’s never had to use one before, only ever needing medication for hangovers or non-addictive pain-killers that she could send someone else to fetch for her. Lena pretends to browse the shelves of the small shop for a second before working up the courage to go to the front desk. She picks out some ibuprofen and three of the most reliable looking pregnancy tests, as well as a bar of chocolate for Sam later. A chocolate bar of relief or comfort? Lena can only hope it’s the prior of the two. Then she finally steps in front of the counter where she’s met with the smiling face of a boy with shaggy brown hair and thick-rimmed glasses that remind her of Kara’s. “How can I help you?” he asks chirpily. 

“Just these thank you.” 

She slams the items down on the desk a bit too hard, her eyes not leaving his as she flinches at her own suspicious behaviour. Well, it’s sort of hard to not feel uncomfortable, she’s buying three pregnancy tests after all. The boy, Winslow it says on his name badge, isn’t put off and his smile grows even more friendly. “No problemo,” he replies and scans the items. 

Lena can tell he’s trying to make it less weird by being casual about this situation, but his more robotic body language gives him away. “Would you like a bag?” he asks. 

“No, I’m good, thank you,” Lena says and shoves the tests as deep down as possible in her rucksack. 

“That’ll be thirty-four dollars, please,” Winslow shrugs. 

She uses her American Express card to pay and slings her bag over her shoulder, pocketing the painkillers. The nail marks on her arm aren’t so painful now after she’d covered them in ice until her arm went numb earlier, but the burn has blistered, and the ice is almost more painful to put on than if she left it as it is. Just another reason to leave this shop: to gulp down a near over-dose of these painkillers. 

“Ibuprofen shouldn't be used when you're 30 or more weeks pregnant, unless it's on the advice of a doctor,” Winslow blurts as Lena’s opening the door on her way out. 

“Oh, um, thanks?” she splutters and hurries out of the pharmacy before her face can turn the colour of a stop-sign. 

-

When Lena reaches the memorable blue Danvers home, there’s no car on the drive, similar to last time, and as she walks up to the front door, there’s no chatter coming from inside either. Instead there’s some barely audible upbeat music from a song Lena doesn’t recognise coming from one of the rooms upstairs and a thudding noise on every off beat to go along with it. Lena rings the doorbell and hears it ring out in the kitchen on the other side of the door, but the music doesn’t silence, and the thudding continues. She rings the bell again and after no response again, she changes to using the knocker as an alternative, getting more forceful in her knocking as time goes on. Still no reply. Next, Lena tries to text Kara. Their last conversation being the address of the house, Lena types out ‘Hey, it’s Lena. I’m outside’ and sends it off. She waits two more minutes for an answer and still none come so she attempts calling this maddening jock instead. Lena has a curfew to meet, and if they want to get all the required hours in this won’t be any good. The call goes straight to answer phone.

She knocks the door one last time and seems as though no-one is coming to answer it, Lena tries the door handle. The door opens easily and Lena steps inside. She can't help but think it's a good thing she has good intentions otherwise the person upstairs would be screwed right now.

The open space is empty, and the lights are off, but the music is louder inside, and the thudding noise is coming from directly above her so clearly _someone_ is in. Lena doesn’t even spare a glance towards the kitchen to check though, her annoyance is all consuming now and she’s heading directly up the stairs in the direction of Kara’s room. She never was one for patience.

But as soon as she reaches the top of the stairs she’s abruptly stopped in her tracks. “Holy fuck,” Lena whispers on a sharp inhale. 

The door to Kara’s room is wide open, the music of what she now recognises as Taylor Swift (the realisation makes Lena’s heart swell further) is playing louder here. On the floor of her room is Kara doing push ups and on each thrust up she’s clapping her hands mid-air, all the while humming along to the music. As she catches herself there’s a thump on the ground that Lena feels beneath her feet, and she watches the muscles of her back, exposed by the tank-top Kara's wearing, ripple and her notable biceps flex, as well as a glowing green band around her wrist pump in time with what Lena imagines must be the blonde's heart rate. After a few long seconds pass, Lena realises that she’s stood there practically drooling and collects herself again, taking in a big gulp of air and blinking a few times. 

“Kara?” Lena tellingly croaks, all the moisture in her body seems to have run south. 

Look away. Look away. Look away. But Lena can’t. She can’t take her eyes off of Kara's body. 

Kara immediately looks up from her focus on the floor, her eyes flicking up. "Lena!" she yelps and instantly hops up, dusts her hands off on the back of her sweatpants and shuts off the music. She coughs and looks intensely at the floor, an endearing red flush on her cheeks. "I- erm, I didn’t… see y’ there,” she says as she grabs for her glasses. Then she runs her hand through her long curls and stands up straighter. “Oh! Gheez, I’m so sorry!” she remembers herself then, "did I- did I leave you outside?! Oh man, it must be freezing out there. Come in!”

She gestures to the room, so Lena amusedly walks over to the desk and plops her bag down on it. Kara shuts the door to her room and turns up her heater, which Lena thinks is very considerate since she was just working out and must be boiling. “It’s okay,” Lena lies for some reason, as she still tries to get the image of Kara’s back out of her head, "I wasn’t waiting that long.” 

“Phew,” Kara sighs, looking genuinely appreciative for that.

Lena’s heart seizes in her chest yet again. Kara Danvers really isn’t anything like she thought she’d be.

“Well, anyway, sorry about that. Do you want to get started?” Kara thankfully changes the subject to something Lena can wrap her head around. 

“Sounds like a good idea,” Lena agrees. 

She unzips her bag, cautiously keeping its contents out of the view of Kara, and takes out her textbook and some notes. When Lena glances up, she sees Kara pulling a dark blue hoodie on over her head, getting it stuck on her glasses, and gets a large helping of Kara’s Adonis belt where her top rides up, which makes her mouth physically water. Lena has to close her eyes to clear a series of vivid pictures that suddenly surge through her mind. _God Lena, get it together._ She quickly turns back to taking off her scarf and opening her textbook. 

“Would you like me to take your coat?” Kara offers, her hoodie on and her hand held out for it. 

“Thank you.”

Lena hands over the coat and is left in the only Henley. She watches as Kara’s eyes catch on it when she takes the coat from Lena. “N-no problem,” the blonde stutters. 

Lena groans internally. _Why did Lena even wear the Henley?_ She feels ridiculous. She knows there's no point leading Kara on. Lena _has_ to be straight. But the scorching look on Kara’s face as she bites her lower lip slightly makes this little win worth it. Besides Kara sort of deserves it, especially after the torture she put Lena through earlier with that whole back display thing. 

Kara guiltily looks back up to Lena’s eyes from where they were on her chest, then when she notices that Lena caught her staring, she hastily spins around to hook the coat up on the back of her door and clears her throat.

“So we did a text in Chemistry class on Monday,” Kara announces. 

“Oh yeah?” 

“Yeah, it was on the hydro… things and… I got a B,” she beams. 

“That’s great Kara,” Lena congratulates with a smile on her face, "we’ve just got to keep that up until the end of the year and you’ll pass Chemistry, no doubt about it.” 

Kara laughs, a hearty and full laugh, at Lena. “Until the end of the year, obviously.” 

“Obviously,” Lena repeats, making Kara laugh even more. 

Lena has no idea what’s so funny, but she elects to ignore it and flip to the right page instead of asking.

-

Lena can tell Kara’s not paying attention. For the last five minutes she’s been drawing a hat and moustache on Michael Faraday. “Kara? These half equations won’t solve themselves,” Lena says, sounding very similar to her own chemistry tutor. She cringes at the thought. 

“I think,” Kara starts, leaning back in her chair and putting the pencil down, "you know, since we’ll be doing this for the rest of the year, that we should get to know each other.”

Lena’s stomach turns. “I don’t mean to be rude or anything Kara, but one hour isn’t really that much time and-,” Lena tries to argue, but she’s cut off. 

“ _Come on._ It won’t be anything to personal. Just a tiny little bit contextual knowledge about my new tutor would be enough,” Kara whines, "I’ll tell you a fact about me first if you want?” 

Lena considers it for a second, staring into the eyes of this perfect incarnation of every crush she’d ever had as a kid, and comes to the conclusion that she already can’t say no to her. She sighs deeply. “Okay. You first.” That didn’t take much convincing. _Seriously? Are you a Luthor or not?_

“Yesssss,” Kara cheers, "okay, well. First things first obviously, my favourite subject is English. Now you.”

“English? You mean like Shakespeare and Dickens? Really??”

“Yes. I happen to like Shakespeare and Dickens believe it or not, have your go.”

“Okay, um… probably Biochem.” 

“Next up, favourite colour. Mine’s red. Your turn.” 

_Favourite colour, is she for real?_ Lena hadn’t thought about this since she was eight and her nanny wanted to knit her gloves in that colour so she could play in the snow. When Kara said contextual knowledge Lena had assumed she meant like truth or dare, not grade school questions. 

“My favourite colour?” Lena asks incredulously, her face the description of serious, "definitely not _Kara Danvers_. That’s a step over the line.” 

Kara looks a little hurt until she picks up on Lena’s smirk.

“A step over the line, huh? Was that one too personal?” Kara continues the joke, a grin growing on her face. 

“Way too personal. I thought you just wanted us to get to know each other, not tell each other our deepest, darkest secrets right away,” Lena holds back her laughter in a smile.

“Oh gheez, now I’m glad I didn’t ask what your favourite animal is,” Kara quips, the last part being lost in her laughter. 

Lena finds herself joining in. They laugh for a long time, true, ugly laughs where Kara’s face turns bright red and Lena’s eyes scrunch up so much from her smile that she can’t see. And as soon as they’re done laughing, they take one glance at each other and burst out again. Lena has never laughed like this before, not in her whole life. Maybe once when she was drunk, and Jack had tired hitting on an overtly straight biker in a bar. But never when she’s been completely in control of herself, Mount Helena is too oppressive and the Luthor Manor too sterile. So now that she is laughing and meaning it, she really, really doesn’t want it to end. And Kara doesn’t seem to either as they smile like idiots at each other. 

Once Lena has caught her breath, sat up and stopped smiling to give her face muscles a break, she notices how close they’ve ended up beside each other. So close that each of Kara’s exhales become Lena’s inhales. Lena smells the familiar scent of vanilla from the last time they were in such close proximity, but also a hint of lemon this time. It brings up memories of summers in the sun and days at the beach in Hawaii. Kara glances down at Lena’s lips and, honest to god, licks her own perfect fucking lips in response. And now Lena is looking at this girls lips and just the sheer kiss-ableness of them. All she’d have to do is lean forward…. But Lillian’s voice rings like an alarm in her head telling her to stop her ‘aberrant obsession’ along with the twinge of pain she still feels in her forearm and the voice telling her to just do it seems to be completely forgotten as she pulls back. “Blue,” she blurts.

Kara looks a little whiplashed, maybe even a little embarrassed. “What?” she nervously chuckles. 

“My- my favourite colour is blue,” Lena utters as she stares at the ground and wills her heart to slow down. It feels as though it’s about to jump right out of her chest.

“Blue?” Kara repeats quietly, saying the next part with more teasing in her tone, “not quite as nice as red, but I suppose I can see some…” 

Lena feels the heat radiating from her pocket for the first time in the last hour as she tries to focus on anything but Kara. She pulls her phone out and her eyes land on the time. There’s fifteen minutes until curfew and Lena is twenty minutes from the school gates. “Oh no.”

Immediately, she begins putting stuff away in her bag and taking her coat from its peg at the same time. “W-what is it? What’s wrong?” Kara says, clearly thinking she did something bad. 

“I have to go, Matron Josephine will- I’ll get in a lot of trouble if I’m not in my dorm by… well, right now really.” 

“I can drive you if you’d like?” Kara suggests. 

“Drive me?” Lena whips her head up from her bag and looks towards Kara. “You know how to drive?” 

Lena had learnt last year in the summer break. She’s actually pretty good at it and it gave her an excuse to leave the house for a few hours a day, but she’s known for doing things a little ahead of other people her age so she’s shocked that Kara knows how. 

“Yeah, Jeremiah taught me, and my cousin gave me his old car, so I could drive you up if you want,” Kara explains. 

Lena decides not to dwell on the fact that Kara called someone Lena thought was her father by their first name. Then again, it’s not like she calls Lillian mother out of choice either. Although, _Lillian technically isn’t her mother, is she?_

“I have fifteen minutes,” Lena warns. 

“I could do it in five. It’d be warmer and safer in the car too,” Kara convinces her with the plead in her eyes, let alone the idea of Matron Josephine’s smug face as she adds a tick to Lena’s hall card. 

“Okay, well, I guess I’ll have to take your word for it. Lead the way,” Lena smiles as she agrees and follows Kara out of her room. 

They walk out through the creepily empty house and onto the street, illuminated by the streetlamps in the night air. Kara grabs a set of keys on their way out and then aims them in the direction of a ‘car’ that is definitely not a car Lena’s ever seen outside of construction sites. Parked on the curb across the street is a dark blue, battered truck - the exact thing Lena would expect a jock from a small town like Midvale to drive. As she pulling herself into the passenger seat, she even spots a keg in the bed of the truck. Lena has the urge to scoff at the predictability, but also simplicity of it all. Kara starts the car and it comes on with a rattle as Lena plugs her seat-belt in. She doesn’t think she’s ever been in a car as old as this, let alone a truck of this sort. A truck of any sort really.

As they head off, with Lena giving directions to Mount Helena, the car shakes and Lena grips the leather seat beneath her until her fingers go white. She wouldn’t be surprised if it just fell apart around them right now. But when she looks over at Kara, one of her arms propped up on the door, the other casually slung onto the steering-wheel and looking completely relaxed, she stops fretting and sits back in the leather seat some more. Kara was right after all, it’s much warmer and she does feel safer with her sat right beside her with her big muscles and comforting height. 

“Where’s the rest of your family tonight?” Lena breaks the easy silence. 

Kara replies, “Alex and Jeremiah are out on a run and Eliza has book club on Wednesdays.” 

How normal.

“Eliza? Is that your mom?” Lena asks, thinking back to the blonde woman she saw on her way-out last week. They hadn’t met formally like she had with Kara’s dad. 

“Adoptive mother, yeah,” she nods, and her fingers tap on the steering wheel as they turn off onto the next road. 

_Adoptive mother? Lena probably wouldn’t have been able to tell._ But now that she think about it, that actually makes a lot of sense. From what Lena saw of Alex, Eliza, and Jeremiah last time (as well as in the pictures they had up around the house), Alex looks like a clear mix of the two. She has the dark hair and hazel eyes from her dad and the definitive facial features from her mom. Kara, however, had features from neither. The only thing that tied her to the family (appearance wise) was that she’s tall and has blonde hair like their mother, but those are pretty typical northern European traits. Something easily overlooked.

It’s similar to how Lena has green eyes and deathly pale skin- unlike both Lionel and her own adopted mother, but the media never seemed to notice until the truth had come out.

“Oh, I didn’t mean to-,” Lena begins to apologise. 

“It’s okay. The Danvers adopted me when I was thirteen, after… after my parents passed away. They loved me as though I was theirs from the beginning and I’m very thankful for them,” Kara says, smiling contently. 

If only Lena could say the same about her own adoption. 

“I was… I was adopted too,” Lena says without thinking.

Kara turns to gape at Lena for a moment, swiftly slowing down her driving so she can look at her. The intensity of her deep ocean eyes is suddenly all focused onto Lena and the brunette shifts uncomfortably. “You were?” She says it with an unexpected amount of awe and Lena has to swallow a lump in her throat before answering. 

“Yes. I was four so I don’t really remember it, but I was adopted after my own mother passed away,” Lena doesn’t know why she’s telling Kara this, she hasn’t even told Jack- her closest friend- this, "it was only two years ago that I found out that my adoptive father was actually my biological father, and my adoptive brother was actually my half-brother.”

“That must have been difficult.” 

Kara’s turned back to face the road, but Lena can tell she still has most of her focus. 

“For my adoptive mother sure,” Lena laughs, but it’s a hollow sound. 

“Why didn’t they tell you about your relation to them?” Kara asks, like it physically pains her that they lied to Lena. 

Lena shrugs, "it was after my father passed that the truth came out.”

“Wow,” Kara’s jaw is tense, and her brows are furrowed, "I’m so sorry that happened to you Lena.” 

Kara glances over at Lena as she says it and she’s met with those open eyes again. She has to look away to avoid being drowned in them. “I’m sorry about your parents too Kara,” Lena says, "life is cruel.” 

They sit in silence for the next minute or so that it takes them to get to the top of the road that leads to Mount Helena. When Kara parks just outside the big, black, iron gates in front of the administrative building, she shuts the car off, so they’re left in silence. She turns to face Lena again. “See you next week?” Kara asks, her tone a little lighter to brighten the mood.

“Of course,” Lena smiles, "same time?” 

“Of course,” Kara responds. 

Lena pulls her bag onto her shoulder and tightens her scarf around her neck. She opens the door and reluctantly slides out, shutting the door behind her. She smiles again at Kara through the window and Kara giggles back as she waves through the window. Then Lena is pressing the call button on the gate and walking back to the dorms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jeremiah taught Kara to drive to stop her flying, which is why she's good a it. 
> 
> My exams may be postponed cos of Corona so maybe expect more updates sooner in the future?  
> Hope you like this chapter :)


	5. Two lines

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When I said slow burn, this is what I meant

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope your all staying safe and keeping those around you safe too.  
> All my exams and school have been cancelled for the rest of the year until October so updates will come a lot sooner in future.  
> also please forgive me, i don't know anything about hacking lmao

After class on Thursday, Sam was guiding Lena to her dorm room. The Senior's live in a different building than all the other students, it’s further away from the main buildings and it’s less like a school dormitory and more like a cheap hotel. Although, it is the area that the faculty teachers live in too, so there isn’t exactly more freedom. 

Sam’s dorm is one of the first ones on the floor, with the number 6 on the front door. She takes out a key to open it and Lena gasps. “You guys have locks on your doors!” 

Sam smirks, "perks of being a senior I guess.” 

“That is so unfair.” 

She unlocks it and Lena immediately goes inside. Juniors aren’t allowed in the Senior’s wing, so Lena hasn’t ever been here before. She had to wait until all the teachers were in the dining hall to get here. She is curious to see what other perks of being a senior there are. Turns out they also have their own bathrooms (sink, shower, toilet and all), minifridges, and kettles for hot water, as well as all the things Lena has: a single bed, a desk, and a wardrobe. Sam’s room is kept immaculately clean. Her bed is made up, you can actually see the surface of her desk, her clothes are all folded and put away, and she even has an alphabetically ordered bookshelf on one of her walls. Lena is only a little surprised by the discovery. Sam always made fun of Lena and Jack for having messy rooms. Even though Lena kept everywhere tidy except her desk and Jack kept only his desk tidy, so it felt a little unfair. Sam would always mock them and say that they weren’t at home where the cleaner would clear up their rooms for them. “Damn, I wish I was a senior,” Lena sighs as she sits on the end of Sam’s bed. 

“We have to do all our own washing and cleaning though, which you don’t,” Sam argues, "anyway, you basically are a Senior already.” 

“I’ll be a senior when I don’t have to share my shower with the eleven other girls on my floor,” Lena scoffs. 

“Don’t you mean if you don’t have to? I thought your mom was making you go to college next year.” 

Lena groans as she takes off her backpack. “Don’t remind me.” 

Sam laughs and pours herself and Lena a glass of orange juice from her minifridge. She’d given all her alcohol to Lena to avoid drinking any without thinking, a big plus for Lena since all hers had been confiscated by Matron Josephine two says ago. “You ready?” Lena asks once they’d finished their drinks, mostly in silence. 

Sam takes a deep breath. “Pass them here,” she says. 

Lena roots around in her bag, fishes out the pregnancy tests she’d bought yesterday and hands them to Sam. The older girl reads the front of them aloud. “Two lines for positive, one for negative.” 

“I’ll be right here,” Lena assures her.

“Let’s get this over with then,” Sam sighs, picks up the whole juice carton and goes into her bathroom. 

After five minutes Lena hears a mumbled ‘fuck’, then the pouring of orange juice, then another, louder ‘fuck’ a few minutes later, and Lena can no longer just sit there and listen anymore. She quietly knocks on the door. “Sam? What’s the result?” she asks quietly. 

The only reply she gets is a smacking sound and then some clear crying. Lena opens the door slowly to find Sam slumped against the side of the bathtub, one of the tests in her hand, another by her foot and the last one is unopened in the sink. Lena picks up the test on the floor, careful not to touch the wrong end, and looks at the result. Two lines. Even though Lena knew this would be the outcome, her throat still dries up with the fear as though it’s happening to her. She glances between her friend on the floor and the positive test. Fuck, what a mess. “It has a heartbeat Lena,” Sam cries. 

“What?” 

“It has a heartbeat,” Sam repeats. 

Lena takes a moment to answer, considering what the best thing to say is. “That doesn’t mean anything Sam. That doesn't make it a baby. It’s barley even a foetus at this point.”

“It has a fucking face Lena,” Sam snaps. 

Lena winces at the sound but overlooks it. Sam’s life is being turned upside down right now, she can be forgiven. Instead she slides down onto the floor beside her friend, careful not to jostle her. “It might have a face, but it isn’t living. It’s up to you, it’s _your_ life Sam.” 

“I have nothing. I can’t tell my parents or any of my friends back home.” 

“You don’t have to.”

“I know, I know, I just… I want to keep it anyway. Is that stupid?” 

“Not at all, like I said, it’s up to you.” 

“I want to keep it even though I’ll lose everyone I love because of it. I know it’ll ruin my entire life, and I still don’t want to get rid of it.” 

Lena feels like scoffing. “It won’t ruin your life Sam. It just won’t be the life you imagined.”

The Arias name is well known, sure, and would Sam be better off without the cells replicating in her womb right now? Almost certainly. But is her entire life ruined? No way. Even without her last name, Sam was made for more than an average life. Anyone could tell that with less than a glance in her direction. Sam cracks a tiny smile as Lena tells her exactly that.

“What should I do?” she asks, her voice cracking. 

“You're absolutely sure you want to keep it?” 

Sam takes a deep breath. “Yeah, I am.” 

“Alright then.”

Lena stands up and pulls Sam, who’s still sniffing and wiping the tears from her cheeks away, up after her. “Here’s what we’ll do.” 

Lena takes the seat at Sam’s desk and swivels it around so it’s facing the bed, where Sam has sat. She takes her phone from her pocket and opens the notes app. “Firstly, who’s the father?” Lena asks, looking at her phone screen to attempt not make a big deal out of it.

“Lena!” Sam yelps. 

“I’m sorry, but I am being serious Samantha. Does he know?” 

“Yes.” 

“R-really?” Lena was not aware of this.

“Yes.”

“When did you tell him? What did he say?” 

“A few days ago. He told me not to contact him again and then he blocked my number.” 

“What?! Seriously?” 

She nods.

Lena notices that she’s getting worked up as she’s made to think about it, so she moves towards a softer approach. 

“Sam?” 

“Yeah?”

“Do you want him involved?” 

She sniffs. “I... It was just a casual thing. He was a bartender and it was only in the winter break, just something to pass the time. I’m pretty sure he didn’t even live in National City. He was staying in a hotel.” 

Lena had already started taking notes and writing down code for hacking the NCPD systems for later. “What was his name?” she asks.

“Why?”

“Just asking…” Lena replies suspiciously.

“Lena.” Sam’s tone is cautionary, and she dashes across the room and snatches the phone out of Lena’s hand. 

She reads over the notes aloud as she scrolls down. “Bartender, dark hair, tan skin, tall, athletic, maybe lives in national city. Lena. How did you know what he looks like?” 

“That’s your type,” Lena shrugs. 

“I do not have a type.” 

“Except you totally do, and it’s boys that look like distinctly like Jacob from Twilight.” 

“That isn’t true!” Sam insists, "I only had a crush on Taylor Lautner for like a week.” 

Lena snorts. It was a little more than a week. 

“Well, you’re not right. …Mark didn’t have tan skin.” 

Lena snatches her phone back. “So his names Mark?”

“Lena, _please_. He doesn’t want to be involved so, clearly, he’s no good. It’s probably better he’s not a part of our lives. You and Jack will be enough, we don’t need him. Please, _please_ don’t contact him.” 

“Fine, okay. I won’t if you really don’t want me to.” 

“Promise me.”

“Alright. I promise. I won’t contact him.”

Sam takes a deep breath. “Okay.” 

“But you are planning on involving Jack at some point then?”

-

At dinner, they told Jack to meet them in the Library in their regular place. Lena bought hot cocoa that she’d bribed one of the kitchen staff to make for them and a secret flask of Pussers that goes in her secret skirt pocket. 

They each turn up to the library separately, once most people have gone back to their rooms, and find the back area empty. There’s a few people playing chess near the entrance but they’re too far away to overhear anything if they talk quietly. Jack sits down in his usual leather sofa and, instead of taking the armchair like usual, Lena sits beside Sam in an identical leather sofa opposite. They only have the coffee table separating them, but it feels wrong to have Jack so far away when they’re going to share something so personal with him. He reclines in the seat and looks at them expectantly. 

“Alright then, what is it? You two look like you’re about to tell me you killed someone and need me to hide the body.” 

Lena sighs and rolls her eyes. “This is serious Jack.”

His brows furrow, Sam and Lena are both sat staring at him. “Okay… I’m listening.” He sits forwards in the chair to the point that he’s nearly off the seat completely. 

“First things first,” Lena begins, "my mother wants me to go to university next year instead of staying here for my senior year.” 

“What? No way! That’s not fair!” Jack exclaims. 

“That’s what I said,” Sam adds. 

“She’s already made up her mind and you know there’s nothing I can do about it now.”

Jack frowns like a baby. “Tell your mother that I don’t want you to go, she likes me.” 

“Lillian doesn’t like you Jack; she likes your money and your grades.” Lena smirks, in any other life Jack would be a loud drama kid- the idea is punctuated just then by how he lets out a growl of annoyance at Lena’s words.

“Whatever. You can’t go. We need to stay together.” 

“I know, I know. We’ll figure it out. Anyway, that’s not why we’re here.” 

“ _I_ have something I need to tell you,” Sam rushes the words out on one quick breath. 

Jack glances between the two of them before his eyes settle on Lena. “I’m assuming you already know what it is?” 

She nods. 

“Right. Of course. Are you two going to leave me out all the time in the future too?”

“Just listen Jack.” 

He huffs but pays attention, clearly noticing the gravity of the situation. 

“Jack, I’m- I’m pregnant,” Sam reveals.

His jaw drops comically wide. “Wh-.”

“And I’m going to keep it.” 

For a long while he just sits there, his mouth running like he’s going to say something, but nothing comes out. His body becomes more and more tense as he’s sat there. Lena can practically see his mind racing from one question to another. She sits there with her leg bouncing, waiting for his reaction and she can feel Sam’s anticipation in how she’s held her breath. “Pregnant?!” he finally bursts. 

“Shhh,” Lena hisses.

“For how long?!” Jack does not lower his voice. 

“Six weeks now I think,” Sam answers. 

"How long have you known??” After receiving Lena’s most severe death-stare, he is a bit quieter now. 

“For sure? Three hours.”

He dramatically falls back into his seat. “Pregnant,” he whispers to himself.

Sam nods in reply anyway. 

“Well? What do you think?” Lena asks. 

“What do I think? I don’t know. A baby’s a lot of work and money and time and-.”

As Jack is going on with his list, Lena looks towards Sam who’s taking deep breaths.

“Yes thank you Jack! We know!” Lena cuts him off and turns to her tear-prone friend, “don’t worry Sam. I mean it, you really don’t have to worry. Me and maybe Jack will figure it out for you. All you’ve got to do is decide when to tell a doctor. Okay?” That sounded well put together, her mother would be proud. 

Jack finally seems to come to his senses and joins them on their couch, sitting on the other side of Sam. “I’m really happy for you Sam, even if the circumstances aren’t ideal. I know you’ll be a great mother. And, not that I’m trying to jump too far ahead or anything, but you should definitely name me and Lena as like godparents or something because we are going to be here for you and the kid forever more than anyone else ever will.” 

Sam laughs through a sob. “I am not leaving this kid with you two, it’d end up crazy. Besides I’m not going anywhere. Thank you, you guys. I don’t- I don’t’ know what I’d do without you.” 

She pulls them both close and they sit embraced like that until Sam’s breathing evens out again. 

-

They walk Sam to her door and sneak back to the dorms when Lena pulls out her flask and waves it in front of Jacks face. He laughs ludicrously. “Lena,” he warns, dragging out the ‘a’. 

“This is a night to celebrate. Besides, after this, things will have to change. Sam can’t drink so I think we should stop too.” 

“What?!” 

“When we’re around her at least, which is basically all the time. We don’t want to make her feel left out or anything. So,” Lena holds up the flask, "one last time?”

Jack doesn’t need much convincing. 

They walk quickly and quietly to their spot behind the gym shed and find their places on the step of concrete as per usual. Lena had found out pretty early on in her time at Mount Helena that this place is furthest from the teachers quarters and dormitories and no CCTV reaches this exact spot, When she was still trying to quit smoking, she’d come here when she was particularly stressed to relax. 

“Sam’s pregnant then,” Jack starts, taking a big gulp from the flask. 

“Yeah,” Lena takes the flask from him and takes a sip, "she wants to keep it a secret.” 

“And how does she plan on doing that? She’s stuck here until Spring break. People will probably have noticed by then,” he says. 

“I don’t know. But I think we should help her.”

“No shit Lena. You already promised her we would do that.” 

“Not just with like moral support, I mean financially too.” 

“Oh… Like what? I don’t have a job and, as far as I’m aware, nor do you.” 

“We’re smart right?” 

“Yeah? So?” Jack chuckles, taking another large gulp of the Pussers. 

“Let’s make something, figure something out.” 

“Like research?” 

“Only in the beginning obviously. We could do some biomechanical stuff. I’ve been working on this… thing recently.” Lena doesn’t know why she’s telling Jack any of this, she’s kept it a secret since her last project got taken away after Lillian had caught wind of it. Maybe the alcohol has finally reached her bloodstream. She takes another swig. “It’s a prosthetic hand to help with phantom limb syndrome, nothing mobile or able to move quite yet. Still a bit of math to work out. But I was thinking you could lend me a hand on the spinal connections. You know about neurophysiology, right?” 

“I took a class on it last year.” 

“And you’re fairly fucking good at biology. You could do that side of things, synapses and nerve impulses and stuff, and I’ll do the movement coding, electrics and actual building. We can sell the product to a prosthetic manufacturing company and give the money we make to Sam. We could help her get a place to stay and the things she needs to fill it with the money,” Lena thinks it up as she says it, proud of how well her ideas are coming together. 

“That’s a decent fucking idea Lena Smart-Ass Luthor,” Jack actually gives her a round of applause. 

“In the meantime, I could offer tutor lessons online for a small fee,” Lena proposes.

“I could too.” 

“Good idea.”

Without being provoked, Jack giggles drunkly and falls onto his side where he stays giggling. “What’s so funny?” Lena asks.

“When you told me you had something important to tell me, I thought it was gonna be that you two were…,” he starts giggling again. Meanwhile beside him Lena’s body goes rigid and her mouth goes dry. “That you two were…” Jack tries again, and he starts laughing incessantly again, if not harder this time. 

Lena may have had a crush on Sam at the beginning, when she was still friends with Veronica and Sam was an unattainable senior, but then Lena got to know her through some of the classes they shared, and Lena realised that Sam was undeniably better as a friend. _Not that she’d ever consider being anything more than that with Sam anyway because Sam is a girl and Lena likes boys._ Boys like Linebacker Morgan Edge from her supra-molecular chemistry class who’d asked her out twice last year and not a female Midvale Lion’s Quarterbacks with impressive strength and blonde hair that needs help with her chemistry homework. 

Lena thought she was doing better at hiding her persistent, unwelcome impulses towards women, but clearly Jack had spotted them. Other people may have too. It’s not that Lena is against gay people; Jack is quite obviously gay and yet they’re best friends. Other people being gay was fine by Lena. It’s just that being gay was not a thing she could be specifically. Luthor’s were normal and followed the rules that nature (more specifically Lillian) put in place for them. She’d grow up, get a husband, have two children or so, and make Lillian happy. She wasn’t an attention seeker or anything. She was normal and that meant she had to be straight. 

“Well, we’re not together Jack,” she snaps, forcing him out of his mania, "that wouldn’t work anyway. I’m moving to Massachusetts next year.” 

He sits up, dirt lining the sleeve of his coat now, and looks a Lena. He’s already had much more to drink than she has. He’s been slugging it down like it’s juice every few seconds whereas Lena only had two or three, albeit big, sips. “Lena,” he cries loudly, "you can’t go!” 

Lena sighs. It’s not exactly like she wants to. 

“I need you here. When Sam goes to have Sam Junior, who am I supposed to lose at chess to?” 

He’s desperately gripping onto her collar now which brings their faces very close together. She can smell the rum in his breath. She laughs as she pushes him back, out of her personal space. 

“Jack. What am I supposed to do, huh? I can’t stay. It’s up to Lillian and she wants me to go to college. I’m just grateful she’s not making me go to Harvard's Business School anymore.”

“Well, I’ll go too then,” Jack nods fiercely and crosses his arms. 

“Don’t be ridiculous Jack. I was literally helping you learn what hydrocarbons were last week.”

“I mean it Lena. I am going to MIT with you next year. We’ll make that prosthetic and then we’ll be desirable, I can just up my grades by studying once in a while. Besides, I’m rich. Everywhere wants rich kids.”

Lena is shocked by how cognitive his reply is considering he’s drunk and each of his words are slurred to some extent. 

“Your parents are the ones with the money Jack. Plus, even with the money and if you manage to get your grades up-.”

“Which I will.” 

“Who’s to say your parents would even let you go?” 

“Don’t be ridiculous Lena,” Jack echoes her words from earlier, "my parents can only dream of having a child as smart as you. They’ll be more than happy to let me go if I promise to work hard.” 

Lena grumbles, "lucky you.” 

“This is a great idea. I’ll call my parents tomorrow.” He takes a pen out from the inside pocket of his coat and writes, in big capital letters, on his arm, ‘CALL PARENTS- MIT’. 

Lena just shakes her head and takes another sip from the flask to find it empty. 

-

She leaves Jack to find his own way to his room soon after he’s sick in a bush near the fence that wraps around the school grounds. He almost falls asleep on the way there, and Lena has to practically drag him back. He’s not exactly light either so by the time she gets to her floor she’s both tipsy and lightheaded. 

Veronica walking out of her room right at that moment does not help her situation. She immediately locates Lena, as though she’d been waiting this whole time for her to come back. Lena ignores her sharkish grin as she walks down the corridor. She does her best to act like she’s 100% sober, not even had a drop of watered-down ethanol in her whole life. But her slowed down movements don’t improve her attempt, and she keeps accidentally walking slightly to the left instead of in a straight line. Veronica snickers, she can see right through Lena’s effort. Lena curses internally for ever letting this girl know her so well. 

Once she reaches her door, Veronica spins her around and steps right into her personal space so that she is pushed up against the wood. When Veronica laughs again, this time at Lena’s slow shocked reaction, she can smell wine in the air. Looks like Lena wasn’t the only one indulging tonight. “Where have you been Luthor?” Veronica teases. 

She is a step further than Lena is in intoxication, Lena can easily tell by how she’s acting. She’d never act like this if she were sober, or even if there was someone else around.

Veronica gives her a quick grin before stepping closer towards her so that their fronts are pressed together. “I like it when your like this Luthor,” she says.

Tipsy? Unable to make informed decisions?

“Your so much hotter when you let your hair down and stop acting like an abused puppy.” 

Sober-brained-Lena would stamp on Veronica’s foot and tell her to get the fuck away, but all current-Lena can feel is lips on her neck as Veronica leans forward. She sucks in a sudden breath at the contact, it’s not the first time this has happened, but Veronica isn’t stupid- she knows what she’s doing. “What do you want Veronica?” Lena asks, her voice wavers a little as she does.

“You know what I want,” Veronica purrs into her ear. 

A shiver runs through Lena’s body as the girl nips at the lobe of her ear. But then Veronica leans back to reach her lips and the moment ends. Lena must have subconsciously been expecting to smell the trace of vanilla because when she’s met with the mix of cigarette smoke and coffee that follows Veronica around, she’s disappointed and instantly turned off. She aims to push Veronica back, even though it’s a pathetic attempt: she’s weak when she’s inebriated. Luckily, Veronica isn’t very heavy, and she does stumble back a few steps. Lena manages to wiggle away from her and open the door enough to slip through. 

“Veronica,” she quickly says, "I told you last time, I am not your toy to play with when you get bored and I’d like it if you stopped doing that. I’m not your- your friend anymore.”

“You miss me Luthor. I know you do,” Veronica drawls, "don’t act like a self-righteous bitch and try to avoid it.” 

Lena fake-chuckles, “don’t self-project Veronica.”

She shuts the door on the girl and collapses into her desk chair. There’s something she needs to do which she hadn’t mentioned to Sam or Jack. She pulls her laptop out from her safe, enters her long, encrypted password and signs in. With her reasoning being a little slower with the alcohol running through her brain she doesn’t bother to question what she’s doing, but her typing is still fast, so she doesn’t really get the chance to. Within minutes she’s hacked the facial recognition software’s of many police departments as well as taken CCTV footage from the online processing accounts of many National City hotels and streets. She finds the Mark that Sam had described when she sees them both at a mall surrounded by Christmas decorations. She runs his face through the software and finds his last name as well as his social security number, address, passport photo, date of birth, and so on. 

Mark Meyer is a twenty-year-old father of two. Two children who are three and two years old- different mothers. You’d think he’d learn his lesson after the first. He pays child support for both of them. Why’d he give up when it came to his third child? He lives in Gotham, has two counts of theft and is one point away from losing his driver’s licence. But, when Lena checks his bank account, he’s doing well for himself non-the-less. Looks like someone who could afford to loose a couple hundred dollars every now and then without noticing. Lena sets up an account deep in the dark web that can store the money that she’ll code to take out of Mark Meyer’s account each month and transfer into Sam’s. That can be his contribution to child support, even if he doesn’t know he’s paying it. He probably doesn’t check his income that often, so Lena doesn’t bother making the sum that concealed. Lena had promised Sam that she wouldn’t contact him, therefore, technically, she hasn’t broken the promise.

When it comes to Samantha’s parents, Lena already knows all the background info. Even if she didn’t, she wouldn’t go snooping around anyway. Mark Dick-Head Meyer is one thing, but Sam’s parents are another thing entirely. All she does is slip into some of their transactions with customers and divert some of the income they would receive into the account hidden within the dark web, this time leaving traps and virtual tripwires in place as she does. Taking money directly from their bank account would be too risky, they probably have personal financial advisers and accountants checking it all constantly. But taking a couple of dollars from each buyer would be more workable, less conspicuous. 

Once all is said and done, she wipes her IP address of any evidence and puts the laptop back in the safe. Then Lena flops onto her bed, falling asleep as soon as her face hits the pillow. 

-

She wakes up at 5am and, as soon as she remembers the night before, rushes to the bathroom for a shower. 

She can’t believe herself. Every time she drinks, she does something she regrets and every time it seems to link to Veronica Sinclair. Even though she’s proud she didn’t give in the night before, she still wanted to. She wanted to. Damn it Lena. _You are not attracted to women._ She repeats the mantra over and over in her head as she scrubs at where Veronica’s lips had been on her until her neck goes red. Her shower takes an extra twenty minutes than it usually does and when she’s finished getting dry and dressed, she’s almost late. 

Jack meets her on their walk to breakfast, strangely enthusiastic for someone who’s supposed to be hungover. “What’s got you so excited?” Lena questions. 

“I talked to my parents about MIT,” he replies. 

“Already??” 

“Yeah, and just like I presumed, they think it’s a great idea and will be talking to Principal Scott about applications.” 

Lena might not have wanted Jack to loose his senior year, but she won’t lie and say she isn’t glad he’s applying too. 

“That’s good news,” she admits, "but just make sure you’ve really thought it through.”

“I have Lena,” he sighs, "you and Sam are, if you didn’t already know, my best and only friends here. Once you two go there’ll be no point in me staying. Not to mention, MIT is the best university in the world and getting in there will look great on any CV.” 

Lena hadn’t even considered CV’s. She’ll probably never have to write one since she’s going to live and die at LuthorCorp. 

“Alright. I believe you; I’m just making sure.”

“I am sure.” 

“Good.”

They join Sam in the dining hall where she’s already piled her plate with toast and Marmite- not one of her usual choices but Lena assumes this is how breakfast will be for the next eight months.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked this one.  
> I'm trying to do some character development, dw the next chapter will feature Kara VERY heavily.


	6. Panthers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena gets to see what Midvale High is like.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess the chapters won't be published much quicker, turns out I really like to cook??  
> Anyway, I hope you like this one

On Sunday the trio are sat in the bleachers watching the Mount Helena Panthers play against another private boarding school Lena was probably kicked out of at some point. She’s spent the whole match so far ignoring the winks and flirty grins thrown at her by Linebacker Morgan Edge. The game feels like a microcosm of Lena’s whole two years at Mount Helena since Edge had developed a crush on her. If only it was as easy to avoid Veronica as it was to avoid this stocky boy. 

All of them are wrapped up in coats, hats and scarves to fight the cold wind they’re sat in; she’s sure this can’t be the football season. Then again Lena doesn’t know a single thing about football so perhaps it is. The game itself makes Lena feel weary. She had seen Lex play rugby at his old school once and this is very similar in how it’s played on a field, their ball is shaped relatively the same, they can use both their feet and their hands, and there’s seemingly a lot of throwing people on the ground involved. They’re only there because Jack has recently taken a liking to the football coach- usually they would spend Sundays in the library with books scattered across the coffee table and laptops on their knees studying. 

Lena is bought out of her thoughts by an over-dramatic gasp from right beside her after one of the players punches another on the opposite team. A fully fledged fight breaks out on the middle pitch with the two players throwing punches left right and centre. This being the most interesting thing that’s happened all game, Lena is paying the utmost attention now. The referee has a tough time parting them and the other players only watch with an equal amount of interest as Lena, so Jack’s beloved coach speedily runs on to help with breaking up the fight. Jack gasps even louder as he watches the man pull the two players away from each other by himself. Lena rolls her eyes and Sam laughs at his and Lena’s reaction. 

As soon as the two players are taken off the pitch the game proceeds, but Lena’s interest isn’t lost because the opposing teams appear to have more aggression than before, throwing themselves at each other like waves on a sea wall. There are multiple times where the players collide and Lena winces. She hates the idea of Kara, with her fluffy socks and easy laugh, getting smashed to the ground like that. 

Her phone goes off and she swiftly checks the notification. Oddly enough the contact is KD, which is weird in and of itself, even if she hadn’t just been daydreaming of Kara tackling Edge to the ground, because she’s never had a text from Kara on any other day than Wednesday- the day of their tutor session. She opens the text. ‘Would you mind meeting me at my school an hour earlier than usual next week?’ is all it says. 

Before Lena can send off her reply, her phone is being pulled form her hands. Jack and Sam know that she doesn’t text her family, they only call when they need something, so when they saw Lena actually texting on her phone, they got curious. Luckily, Lena managed to switch the phone off before Jack snatched it away and he ends up trying to violently guess her password as Sam gawks at her.

“What?” Lena asks, nervously laughing and somewhat apprehensive as she anticipates the oncoming interrogation. 

“Who was it?” Sam suspiciously asks. 

“Me and Sam are your only friends and we are sat right here, there is no one else it could be,” Jack rants after trying to figure it out in his head as he still types in number combination after number combination.

“Tell us,” Sam demands, after she also tries to figure it out herself and fails.

Lena sighs and opts not to attempt trying to keep it a secret. It’s not like she has anything to hide. Her and Kara are just doing a project together. That’s a regular thing that students do with each other. There’s no reason for Lena not to tell them, even if it does feel like telling her friends about Kara is like telling them that Kara matters more to her than a normal student would to their teacher. And Lena can’t tell anyone that Kara matters to her in any way because Lena hasn’t even decided if she does yet. “It’s just the girl I’m tutoring,” is what she settles on. 

“It’s just the girl I’m tutoring,” Jack repeats it, swooning as he puts an overly girly voice on to say it. 

Sam harshly nudges him as Lena gulps, her casual attitude had failed straight away. 

“What did she say?” Sam continues her interrogation.

“Just that she wants to meet earlier for the lesson,” Lena says and shrugs- something Lillian would’ve scolded her for doing if she was there.

Sam narrows her eyes. “How’s it going? The lessons?” 

Jack finally passes her phone back after failing to unlock it and racking up a wait time of 10 minutes before she can next unlock it. “Fine? We’ve only had two lessons. She’s a quick learner I guess.” 

“I thought it was meant to be players on the football team, why are you tutoring her?” Jack asks.

“She is on the football team.” 

Jack and Sam share a look, his mouth hanging open and her eyes wide.

“What’s she like?” Jack asks. 

Out of all of them, Jack had been around people who aren’t in the 1% the least. He’s intrigued to know what they do and what they think, meanwhile Sam is wandering what Lena’s opinion on what ‘normal’ people do and think is. After all, the Arias’ only got a considerable amount of money _after_ Sam had already started her freshman year at National City High. She was ‘normal people’ once upon a time, would Lena have been her friend then? Sam is sure that many people who she talks to on a daily basis at Mount Helena wouldn’t, probably including Jack. In fact, lots of people who somehow know she used to sell maths answers to classmates for dinner money and that her mother was a stripper before she was born tend to avoid her like the plague here.

Mount Helena is a private, STEM specialist, selective boarding school with an entrance exam that takes two and a half hours to complete and a couple bucks to get into. Most kids who come here have never been amongst other kids whose GPA is lower than a 4.0 or whose parents have a salary that is less than six digits long. She wouldn’t be that surprised if Jack left her when she has to leave Mount Helena. He couldn’t take not wearing designer clothes, she couldn’t imagine him being around someone who wears anything else. Lena, however, Sam isn’t sure. She has never once treated her different or acted like she was lesser. Now that she thinks more about it, Lena would probably never leave her. Her friend has probably seen every ugly side of what wealth does to people. It’s no wonder she likes being around Sam. 

“She’s…,” Lena waves her hands around as if she’s thinking of an answer. There’s lots of words that come to mind, but she can’t exactly say mouth-watering, can she? “She likes football a lot.” 

Sam’s a little disappointed by that answer, and so is Jack if his groan is anything to go by. 

“I mean, what’s her room like? What does she look like? What does she wear? How does she talk? What are her parents like?” Jack says all in one breath. 

“Pretty average really,” Lena doesn’t know which question she’s answering specifically, but it’s an uncaring answer and that’s all that matters right now. Seeming uncaring instead of falling head over heels into in a crush on Kara Danvers is for the best. 

Jack groans again, in frustration this time. But there’s a quirk at Sam’s lips. It’s been confirmed, Lena isn’t an elitist. 

“What?” Lena says, like she has no idea what she’s doing. 

“Lena-.” 

Whatever Jack was going to say is cut off by the whistle blowing, signalling the second half is over and they’re all free to leave. He cheers as the Panthers celebrate their win on the pitch. They are made to stay until he’s the last one clapping and there are people looking at them with annoyance and Lena and Sam are forced to pretend to not know him. 

As soon as they get back to Lena’s dorm, Sam falls asleep on her bed, so she and Jack begin work on their prosthetic. Starting off with Lena explaining how far she’s gotten with it already. 

-

That night Lena decides to actually think about Kara instead of locking her thoughts away as per usual. Lena’s fairly sure she’s always been… into women. Her drunk actions with Veronica Sinclair say plenty about that on their own. But even if she’d never had sex with a girl, her strong attraction to women alone is enough to justify her suspicions. When a pretty girl so much as glances in her direction Lena has a tough time keeping her heart rate in check, however when a boy actually physically asks her out and tells her he likes her she can’t even summon enough strength to smother her amusement at the situation. 

The problem is that Lena should undeniably _not_ have this attraction. Lillian made sure she knew that with the threats she’d make: tours of conversion therapy camps in the summer, boys more than willing to show her ‘a good time’ whether she wanted to or not, and Gotham Mental Asylum leaflets being left on her plate before breakfast, as well as being outspoken with her opinions on the sanctity of marriage and how harmful teaching LGBT+ topics at schools are. Having a crush on members of the same sex was never something Lena was even allowed to consider. It was wrong from before she knew what a crush was. So, when she discovered that she couldn’t like boys no matter how hard she tried, all that was left in her was fear. And Lena did try her best to like boys, to like boys and everything that came along with that. There were boys at her past school who had asked her out. Lillian had said she approved of them, and they got along with Lex well enough, so she’d say yes. Then they’d date for a few months and, without the intimate side of the relationship boys like those required despite their age, they’d break up and everyone would be disappointed in her. She’d be disappointed in herself and cry into her pillow after Lionel and Lex pretended not to listen when Lillian would spew her hateful ‘not worthy of the Luthor name’ speech at her over dinner. But the disappointment and anger that came when a relationship didn’t work out was better than the pure fury that would follow if Lena was ever in a relationship with someone… unapproved of. 

There was always that fear in the back of her mind, including right now. It was the fear of Lillian and the lock on her bedroom door in the Luthor Manor that Lillian could do with as she pleased that kept Lena in her place. It’s not like Lillian hadn’t locked her up before for something she had no control over. The only time she didn’t feel that fear was when she was drunk or high and ever since Sam came to Mount Helena, Lena has been as sober as she could get away with, especially as she’s been distancing herself from Veronica. She hates what she used to do, but after Lex went to university and basically left her and Lillian alone, other than when Lionel was home (which was very rarely), it was necessary to her survival. Not to mention weed being a good painkiller, and Lena needed to kill pain very often in those years. 

Lillian had always had her suspicions of Lena being 'not straight'. Her daughter wasn’t very good at hiding her feelings when she was younger- one of the many things Lillian is proud to of resolved by now. Still though, the girl was too smart to keep a diary or leave her laptop unlocked so Lillian was pulling at threads… It wasn’t until she had hired someone to follow Lena’s movements one night that her suspicions were reinforced. Not only did Lena end up staying the night at Veronica’s boat house, but she also discovered her daughters drug habits and disgraceful un-Luthor-like behaviour. A week later, after Lena had been kept in a guest room (as her bedroom was searched by their security) without anything to stimulate her mind or much to eat, Lillian took her to ‘New Hope’ for a tour. Lena saw being paraded around a conversion camp as a threat, Lillian saw taking her daughter around a friendly psychiatric treatment centre as encouragement. It didn’t help either when Lillian pulled her out of school, away from her friends and the safety that school provided, so that her home-school classes could be mixed with rehab therapy sessions (because sending Lena to an actual rehab centre wouldn’t look good during term-time). 

Going to Mount Helena was a rest bite from being around Lillian all the time for Lena, but she certainly wasn’t free from her influence or the lasting effects she’d had on her. 

That’s why when she pictures Kara’s beautiful face and perfect smile, she gets irritated by the heat that blooms in her chest. She can’t help herself though. Kara is addictive to her and, recently, her blonde locks and broad shoulders have become more and more a part of Lena’s thoughts. She needs to do something about this so she can move on. And she needs to move on to stay safe from Lillian Luthor. 

One night. That’s it. She’ll indulge herself for one night and this will all be over, so she can move on. 

That’s what she tells herself as she slips her fingers past the waist band of her pyjama bottoms with Kara’s huge hands in her mind and her voice in her ears. 

-

On Wednesday Lena leaves school a few hours earlier than she normally would for the tutor session in Midvale. She has to skip dinner and the hour of mandatory revision after class in order to be in Midvale on time, which she doesn’t mind necessarily because Sam has been in a bad mood all day and she finished all the work, that she’d usually do in the hour, during her lunch break. What she does mind is that she doesn’t get the chance to go back to her dorm room before leaving so she has to go all the way there carrying all her books to wherever it is Kara wants to meet and her shoulders are already sore. Plus, she doesn’t get to change clothes. But that’s a less important problem. Lena doesn’t dwell on it. At. All. 

Walking into Midvale whilst the sun is still up is very strange. It’s made immediately clear to Lena that they’re a tight-knit community. She notices it as soon as she walks into the town, people greeting one another on the streets, waving to each other from their cars, being friendly with whoever they’re near. Everyone knows each other. Lena had never seen anything like it, not even when she had snuck out to Midvale with Sam and Jack in the past- perhaps because that was usually at night. Luthor Manor was out of the city, in a rich part of the suburbs where they had acres and acres of nothing but trees and grass around them, and if she ever went anywhere busy it would be in Metropolis, a city that was full of strangers. It was a shock to the system for Lena to see people stopping in the street and chatting with each other, smiles on their faces as they did. If you stopped someone on the street in Metropolis, it was probably an accident and they’d get annoyed and tell you to ‘watch it’. 

As Lena got further into Midvale, she began to notice the stares she was getting. It starts to feel like she should almost certainly have changed her clothes into something more… suburban? The people around her are all dressed in jeans and thick jackets or skirts and cotton tights with big hats covering their ears, everyone is in ski coats and have trainers on their feet. Things that are practical and make sense in the cold winter weather. Meanwhile, Lena was dressed in her school clothes that were only practical in well-heated classrooms. 

Mount Helena doesn’t have a uniform, but they do have a strict, pricey dress code. Most people, including Lena, don’t notice the difference between what they wear at home and what they wear at school because it’s basically the same thing. Girls are expected to wear polishable shoes with a small heel, knee-length skirts, white shirts, V-neck pullovers, and dress suit blazers on top. Boys are expected to wear polishable shoes with grey socks, half-break trousers, white shirts, ties and a slipover that matches colour, and a blazer on top. There were, of course, ways to bend the rules… or just ignore them completely. For example, Veronica wears her snake boots during class-hours, Lena sometimes wears her Doc Martins, and Morgan Edge rarely wears his tie, as well as the girls who wore trousers and boys who wore cardigans instead of blazers. To Lena, these were normal clothes, but the people in Midvale could tell when a student from Mount Helena was around based on the inherent prestige they seemed to carry around and the black oxford brogues they always appeared to have on. As they all looked at her while she walked down the main street during a very slow rush hour, she felt like a zoo animal. Although, she did admire how they tried to keep their glances subtle. It would have been completely unnoticeable had Lena not been made a spectacle of her whole life. 

She ignored it effortlessly, as she’s been doing since she was four. 

-

Kara had texted her the directions on her phone, but as soon as Lena left the main roads she got lost. Geography was never her strong suit. When she finds herself on a road that looks distinctly like each other one in Midvale she gives up; every house is some variation of the Danvers’ each with large family cars on the drive and distinct wrap around porches. The directions she gets from Kara, like ‘walk left when you reach the white house’, aren’t very helpful when there are three white houses on either side of the road. She decides to call Kara and after three rings, the other girl picks up. 

“Kara Danvers here,” her voice rings out through the phone like how the sun’s rays shine in the sky. 

“Hey Kara, it’s Lena Lu-,” she clears her throat, "…your tutor.” 

“Lena!” she says loudly, and Lena can picture her smile on the other side of the phone. "you on your way?” 

“Yeah.” Lena really hates admitting when she’s stuck, but she’s been walking around this one street for a long time now and people are giving her strange looks. “Um… actually, I’m sort of lost.”

“Oh, no problemo,” there’s a moment of silence where Lena can hear some paper shuffling and then, "carry on going from where you are and… can you see a red mailbox?” 

It slips Lena’s mind that Kara couldn’t possibly know where Lena is without asking, and the blonde didn’t ask. 

She looks around and sure enough, “yeah, it’s to my right.” 

“Okay, that’s good! You’re close by. When you pass it there should be some crossroads, go left once you reach them,” Kara instructs. 

Lena goes left and finds herself stood before a sign with the words ‘Midvale High School’ on it. Behind the sign is a long brick building with an American flag stood out in front of it and some neatly trimmed grass around paved paths leading up to it. There’s a stream of students dressed in their relaxed school clothes with bags on their backs walking quickly out of the front doors, crossing the grass and walking onto the street. A few go in the direction of a yellow school bus- the likes of which Lena had only ever seen in movies before, and others cross the street she’s currently stood on to continue their walks home. “Kara?” she hesitates. 

“Yeah?” Kara replies cheerily. 

“Why am I outside your school right now?” she asks. 

“That’s where we’re meeting,” Kara explains simply.

“Kara, I-I can’t just walk into your school,” Lena says, the disbelief evident in her tone. 

“What? Why not?” 

Lena doesn’t get the chance to reply because suddenly there’s a group of people stood in front of her. Three girls that look like seniors; one who’s tall and has long black hair, another shorter girl with tourmaline brown hair, and one looking at her with her brows furrowed and eyes narrowed who she recognises as Alex. 

“Lena, right?” Alex asks. 

Lena nods and drops the hand that holds her phone to rest by her side. 

The shorter girl looks a little bit amused with a grin on her face and the other girl looks completely confused, glancing between Alex and Lena. 

“What are you doing here?” 

“Erm, I’m here for a tutor lesson,” she answers. 

Alex gives her a quick once over. “Right.”

What’s that supposed to mean? Lena asks herself. 

Lena’s attention is taken away from the interrogation when she spots something running almost in-humanly fast over the shorter girls shoulder. As the person gets closer, she recognises it to be Kara, this time dressed in light blue jeans, a pair of navy converse, and a yellow and red letterman’s jacket. Lena’s heart flutters at the cliché, something that surprises her considering whenever she sees Edge on the weekends in his black and white football jacket, she can’t help but cringe. 

Kara runs over, standing between Alex and Lena and looking very apologetic. “Hey,” Lena says and bites her lip. 

Kara blushes, a small smile playing on her lips before turning to face Alex. “Hi Alex, thank you for finding Lena for me. Don’t worry though, I’ll take it from here,” she rushes out. 

“You okay Kara? Your face has gone red,” the short girl teases.

“Good observation, thank you Maggie,” Kara says sarcastically. 

Lena chuckles from where she’s stood, causing Kara’s cheeks to heat up even more. She quickly takes Lena’s hand and leads her around Alex and her friends and in the direction of the building. As she’s being marched past, Lena hears “is that the posh girl Kara keeps talking about?” and it makes her breath stutter as they walk away. 

Kara lets go of her hand once they reach the doors, and Lena mourns the loss of warmth it gave her in the cold, but as Kara holds the door open for her to pass through like the epitome of chivalry, she doesn’t mind so much. They go passed the front desk and the receptionist doesn’t even go as far as looking up when they pass by, much to Lena’s surprise. Mount Helena has tall black gates surrounding it and actual security guards with tasers, nobody is going in or out if it’s not through the front gate. (Luckily for Lena, the receptionist likes her… and the cash she keeps in her purse.)

Midvale High School, much like everywhere else in this town, is exactly like Lena expected meanwhile also being a huge shock to the system. Sure, Lena had seen a million hallways exactly like this one in American high school TV shows, but her own experiences had her believing they didn’t actually exist. There are lockers lined up against the walls and they even pass a trophy case with old class’ pictures inside that are sat next to big silver trophies. The hallways are wide, and the floors are made from glossy concrete, the classrooms have those singular chairs with tiny desks attached to them instead of normal tables, and there’s actually a janitor mopping the floor in a classic blue jumpsuit. Lena supposes there must be janitors at Mount Helena, but somehow she’s never actually seen them, so she doesn’t know if they wear the jumpsuit. 

As they go, multiple people greet Kara in the hallways. Some saying ‘hi’ other asking things like ‘how’s your wrist’ and congratulating her for a ‘good game on Friday’. And Kara, with her friendly jock charm, responds with ‘hey there’ and ‘better than ever’ and ‘can’t wait to see you at the next one’. It appears Lena isn’t the only one completely smitten with Kara Danvers; the entire student body seems to be too. 

Kara guides her through the corridors and off into an open library. The only similarities between this library and the one in Mount Helena is that they have books in them. The windows aren’t blocked so it’s much brighter here than Lena’s library where the sheer number of books on the shelves blocks any light that tries to enter, the shelves in Midvale High are made from metal and plastic rather than the dark mahogany wood Lena’s grown accustomed to, the tables and chairs are plastic too whereas the ones at Mount Helena are wood with leather cushioning, and there are no sofas- which doesn’t really come as a shock (sofas aren’t exactly standard library equipment), the lights are a head-ache inducing white instead of a soft orange, and even weirder is that all the students in here don’t seem to be being quiet despite it being a library. 

“I thought the universal rule for libraries was that you had to be silent in them,” Lena says sarcastically as she deposits her bag on an empty table, empty except for Kara’s pastel yellow rucksack and an open chemistry textbook. 

“It’s quiet during the day, but after school people come here to hang out so we don’t have to be quiet,” Kara chuckles. 

If only they used logic like that at Lena’s school. They both take their seats beside each other and Lena takes off her coat. “So why are we here instead of at your house?” Lena asks. 

“Our kicker is moving away next week and we’re having a party for him later, so I couldn’t really leave before that,” she shrugs, "it’s just easier to have it here, so, erm, thanks for coming.” 

It’s not like she had much choice, but Lena keeps that to herself. Instead, she says, "as long as you know what the sodium hydroxide tests are by the end of this, it’s not a problem.” 

-

So they get on with the lesson, each minute passing by like seconds. And as they do, she begins to realise that, God, Lena really messed this one up. Whilst she looks into Kara’s eyes, eyes that are as blue as the Mediterranean Sea and as deep as the Mariana Trench, when the blonde lists off what colour precipitate goes with which metal ion, she realises that getting herself off with the image of those exact eyes in her mind was an exceptionally bad idea. All she can think as she loses herself in them now is how she imagined they’d look as she smothered her moans into her pillow, which is exactly the type of thought Lena was hoping to eradicate. 

By the time the lesson is over, Lena is uncomfortably turned on and she cannot stop watching Kara’s lips as they move. She hasn’t been listening to a word Kara has been saying but pretending to pay attention is one of Lena’s main talents, so Kara hasn’t caught on yet. She just keeps talking and talking and biting her lips and it’s making Lena lick her lips in response and okay so maybe Kara has caught on. The other girl is staring purposefully at Lena, as if daring her to make the first move. Kara asks what insoluble means with a slight smirk on her face and it’s doing all kinds of things to Lena’s insides. The smirk isn’t threatening or arrogant like the ones she’s used to, it’s amusing and genuine. Two things she definitely doesn’t need to see if she has any hope of not catching feelings for her. Well… anymore feelings. 

Fortunately they are disrupted by a large hand landing on Kara’s shoulder that makes them both jump apart. When did they move so close? The boy standing behind Kara is dressed in a matching yellow and red football jacket and wears a pair of un-creased high-tops. “Kara?” the tall, brawny boy says, interest bleeding into his tone, “who’s your pretty friend?” 

For some reason, the compliment directed at Lena makes Kara blush. “Hello James,” she shakes his hand off, “this is Lena, my tutor. Lena, this is James Olsen, Midvale’s best Center since his dad played.” 

Lena has no idea what a Center is or who James’ dad is, but by how proud James looks he must be someone important. “You'd never get your hands on the ball without me,” James responds smugly, pointing his thumb at Kara. 

Both the players laugh at that. “I haven’t seen you around before,” he says flirtatiously, “are you new?” 

“I go to Mount Helena,” Lena explains, “I just help Kara with her chemistry sometimes.” 

“Oh yeah! That’s like my tutor, her name’s Veronica… Smith or something. Do you know her?” 

Lena’s eyes widen, but she quickly becomes accustomed to the idea. It’s not the first time Veronica has gone for a boy after all. It makes sense too: Veronica can do whatever she wants with him when she’s far from the school grounds for hours at a time. Of course they’re fucking. “You could say that, yeah.” 

“Oh cool, are you two friends or something?” Kara asks. 

Lena turns her attention to the blonde and the way she’s subtly squared her shoulders and plays with the tips of her hair, instantly telling Lena she’s jealous. The realisation makes butterflies flutter in her stomach. The crush is not one sided then. “Um, not really. She’s in a few of my classes,” Lena lies. 

“Oh right,” Kara visibly cools down. 

“Anyway,” James claps his hands together, “Kara, don’t you have somewhere you need to be right now?”

At her blank expression James adds, “something to do with Barry and a certain amount of beer in your van…”

“Oh right!” Kara quickly checks the time on her phone to see that it’s nearly six. “Oh Gheez, you could’ve said sooner!” 

She starts to speedily pack her books into her bag, put her phone in her pocket, and neatly fold the notes Lena made for her all at once. Whilst Kara rushes about clearing away her things Lena is left to look at James. A boy who, now that Kara is stood up, isn’t as tall as she thought- he’s only a few inches taller than the Quarterback. James, with all his bulky muscles and casual attitude, is basically the perfect distraction for Veronica. It won’t last however, if Veronica’s actions recently are enough to go by, she’s already bored of him. 

Kara pauses in her rush once everything is tidied away and looks at Lena with a soft expression. “Do you need me to show you the way out?” she asks.

“No, I’ll be fine,” Lena says.

“Are you sure?” 

“Yes, I’ll call you if I get lost,” Lena assures her. 

“Okay. Well, thank you for the lesson… see you next week?” The corner of Kara’s mouth turn up at the question. 

“Same time?” Lena asks, a similar smile tugging at her own lips.

“I’ll text you,” Kara promises. 

“Okay, see you,” she says. 

“Bye.” 

“Hope to see you again soon,” James puts his arm over Kara’s shoulders and leads her out of the room.

“You too James.”

Kara shrugs off James’ arm and mutters something about being late as they walk away. 

-

Later that night she gets a text from ‘KD’ saying, ‘wish you could have stayed for the party. You might have been able to see James fall over a bench.’ 

Lena falls asleep with a smile on her face as she ignores the warning bells going off in her brain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went back and corrected a few errors in past chapters and there are a lot so if there's any in this please let me know


	7. Lex's plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena gets two phone calls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one might be distressing if you find abuse, panic attacks, or anything like that triggering.  
> So if you wanna skip this chapter let me know and I'll tell you what happens in the comments?

The week’s pass and winter becomes early spring. Kara doesn’t fail a single chemistry test and Lena manages to avoid getting caught with Jack in her room as they work on their prosthetic late into the night. It’s almost finished at this point; they work well together. Sam tells the doctor in Midvale about her pregnancy and get's out of school under the guise of it being a UTI, and, due to Sam being eighteen, her parents don’t find out about it. 

Everything is going well for Lena until one day, towards the end of a tutor lesson with Kara no less, she gets a phone call. 

The caller ID says Lex, but Lena can’t give in to the belief that it’s actually him. He never phones during term time, unless something big has happened like one of his xenophobic scandals or a crashed Aston Martin. But there hasn’t been anything in the news recently- she's started paying attention, so it can’t be anything like that. She looks down at her phone for a long while which catches Kara’s attention just as much as the loud ringing does. 

“You gonna answer that?” she asks Lena softly, ducking her head down to catch the Luthor’s eyes. 

Kara has been making moves like that- ones that bring their faces a breath apart- a lot recently. In order to not give in and close the gap, which is something Lena’s found herself wanting to do more and more frequently, she looks back down at the phone buzzing in her palm. 

“Yeah…,” she stares at the phone for a few more long seconds, a picture of Lex on the screen with a martini in one hand and a Greek beach behind him – one of the last good memories she has of him. 

Kara stares at her worriedly.

“Sorry this should only take a moment,” Lena blurts and stumbles into the corridor outside Kara’s room, her legs feeling like jelly. 

She can hear Alex and Jeremiah watching some sporting event loudly on the TV downstairs and quickly presses accept- she’s made Lex wait long enough already. If she waits any longer, he’ll start to get annoyed. Whatever it is Lex has to say, it’s probably important. She doesn’t want him pissed off as he says it. 

“Hello?” she starts hesitantly, still unsure if it’s actually him. 

“I thought you would’ve called me by now,” Lex tuts, the lilt in his voice quickly getting across his frustration. 

There’s no hello Lena, how are your studies? Sorry I haven’t called in the last few months or asked if you were okay after mother visited you even though I know you’re obviously not. I heard you were asked to join the chess club, that’s cool.

But Lena has learnt not to expect it in the last two years. There hasn’t been anything like that since the day Lionel died. 

“What? Why?” 

“Why?” he taunts, “Lena, dearest, you can’t be serious?” 

She stays silent as she tries to wrack her brain for any reason as to why he might be calling, or why she should have called him. She clenches her jaw when she can’t come up with anything and refrains from growling at her own stupidity. “I take it you haven’t opened my parcel then?” he asks, sighing at the end. 

She always manages to fail him somehow. “No, I haven’t had the chance,” she replies with her jaw tense. 

It’s true. Between studying for midterms, joining chess club, building the prosthetic arm with Jack and helping him get his own grades up past a 4.0, supporting Sam with her… child, and tutoring Kara whilst suppressing her unmanageable attraction for her. No. She hasn’t really had time for anything else. 

“Well, it’s important Lena,” he snaps, “more important than any homework or whatever it is you could be doing. I know there must be something you will have to say about its contents as usual, and it’ll be your last name dragged through the mud if this doesn’t work out, so you should care. Read it and then phone me back.” 

Nothing matters more than being a Luthor. Especially not to Lex; their father that ensured that in him. 

“I’m sorry, I’ll read it as soon as I get to my room.” 

Lex chuckles condescendingly at her down the phone. “Sure you will, Lena. There are big things coming, dear sister. You better be ready when they come.” 

She can practically hear the crazy behind his eyes as he says it. It’s the same thing he’d say right before he’d tell Lillian about her projects or the hidden scotch under her bed. Her heart thuds at the thought that he could possibly know something. 

“Lex, what are you talking about?”

He chuckles again. “Lena. Don’t worry about it, okay? Not yet at least. Just open the parcel.” 

Then he hangs up, just like that. No goodbye or helpful reassurances. Lena’s left with dread left in the pit of her stomach and her lungs turning to stone and slowly stealing her breath. She turns back to Kara’s door and opens it as her hands begin to shake. 

When she steps inside, Kara is sat on a chair facing her direction with her eyes wide. “Who was it?” she asks, an innocent question that makes Lena’s mind flick back to Lex and his conspirator’s laugh. 

“I’ve got to go,” is all Lena can get out, her voice hoarse from the dryness of her throat, “right now.”

She can feel her heartbeat speeding up and the panic rising in her throat, but she does her best to keep it down. Keep it down until she gets back to school at least. She can make it that far. Kara stands up and walks over to her with her arms open. “Lena,” she says, quietly, “you’re shaking.” 

There are tears welling up in the Luthor’s eyes, she breathes in fast and, in her head, she curses Lex for doing this to her. For always doing this to her. She tries to force herself to calm down, she digs her nails into the palms of her hand to take her mind off all the times Lex has fucked her over. Every single time he would come into her room and stay with her as she cried until she fell asleep or play chess with her all day long so she didn’t have to be alone, and to trick her into trusting him. And then, every single time, he’d break that trust. He’d call Lillian when she’d do other people’s homework, and when she'd buy CCTV cameras with the money she’d make from it so she could expose the abuse, and when he’d tell Lillian about her illegal stash of money in the boat house she’d saved up to run away with, and about the burner phone that she tried to call the police on after their mother had threatened her with a broken wine glass and cut open her shoulder when aiming for her neck. She still has the scar. Every time he would stand and watch as Lillian would grab her arm so hard there’d be grip marks, or when he would ignore when their mother would lock her in her room and feed her once a day, or when Lillian would scream at her from across the table that without marrying a rich man and looking pretty that she a waste of Luthor blood because she would never amount to anything, and because she was neither those things she was failing as a daughter to her recently passed father. 

“Lena, come and sit down. You’re panicking,” Kara says, but it sounds faraway to Lena’s rapidly moving mind.

All those thoughts come flooding back into Lena’s head one after another and soon she realises that they aren’t going to stop. Each new image brings up a series of different ones and with every one, it becomes harder and harder to breathe. She inhales faster, deeper to get the air into her lungs but she can’t seem to fill them. If she clenches her fists any harder, she’ll draw blood and that’s just a waste of her energy- it’s not working to take the thoughts away. She’s already made enough of a fool of herself in front of Kara by now that, what’s crying other than another thing to be embarrassed about later? “I’m sorry,” she says, and the words waver as they’re spoken. 

And then the tears finally break through the barricades and spill down her cheeks rapidly, her body begins to shake uncontrollably, and she can’t look at Kara anymore from the shame of being so pitiful.

“Lena?? What is it? Just take a deep breath, I’m here.”

Her knee’s grow weak and she begins to collapse, but as soon as she starts to fall Kara is stepping forward and pulling her into a hug. “It’s okay,” she whispers soothingly, “it’s okay.”

By some great feat, Lena stays standing with the help of Kara’s strong, _so strong_ arms wrapped around her waist and all she can do is cry into the taller girl’s sweater. Kara strokes her hair and holds her so tight it feels as though this hug alone could make her feel better. Like Kara could squeeze all the bad thoughts out of her mind and keep her grounded even when she’s falling apart right there in her arms. Her silent crying quickly turns into full body wracking sobs. “I’m sorry,” Lena chokes out. 

Kara keeps repeating, “you’re okay,” in a comforting manner and stroking her silky hair.

Lena holds tightly onto the front of her top, trying to gaps the air back into her body before she passes out. She ends up soaking through the other girl’s sweater with how her wet cheeks are being pressed into it; pulling away from the security of the hug feels like the worst thing in the world right now, so there’s nothing she can do to stop it. 

“Lena, why- why are you apologising? Someone upset you. If anything, _I’m sorry_ anyone would do that to you.” 

“I ruined your sweater,” she says between a sniff, slightly muffled by the fabric. 

“My sweater-,” Kara laughs, hearing her perfectly nonetheless, “that is the least of my worries right now.”

Even when Lena can hardly stay still from all her shaking, her heat skips a beat at the implication that Kara is worried about her. There aren’t many people who care about her enough to worry. Lena’s breathing is wavering with each inhale as she noses into Kara’s sweater further, growing tired now that her heart is relaxing. A pang of shame pulses in her forehead- she just cried in front of her crush. But as Kara’s grip tightens around her, she can’t bring herself to care. 

They separate when her breathing returns to normal and all of her muscles have relaxed. Lena still insists she needs to go though, so the blonde helps her to put her books back into her bag, going as far as helping her to put her coat on, holding it up so that Lena can get her arms in. “Let me drive you back,” Kara offers. 

“It’s alright Kara, it’s not that far.” 

She tries to sound convincing, but a sudden wave of exhaustion washes over her and she can’t commit to it. 

“I know that, but I want to.” 

Lena looks up. She’s gazing at Lena, from where she’s stood by the bed, like she’s something that needs protecting. It’s not in the way that Veronica would though- the way that she’s used to people staring at her. Veronica would stare at her, after a panic attack, like she’s a wounded animal or a frightened child that needs comforting and her sympathy. Kara though is looking at her as though she’s something precious, like the crown jewels or her family’s fortune that needs protecting and is worth fighting for. It makes Lena’s mouth go dry; it’s too many emotions for her to process at once and she’s too worn out to go through them all right now. 

Lena has no trouble letting Kara drive her back to Mount Helena after that.

They get in the car, and even though it’s spring, Lena starts to shiver again. Kara reaches over and runs her constantly warm hands over Lena’s arms and soothes her goose bumps away. Lena’s mouth hangs slightly open at the action, she can’t seem to say anything, and Kara glances over with a playful smile pulling at the corner of her mouth. It makes Lena smile in response and she doesn’t shiver again for the rest of the journey. 

Kara pulls up right outside the gates. “See you next week?” 

Lena nods, a small grin on her face at the familiarity of this conversation. “Same time?” 

“I’ll let you know if not.” 

They let the moment pass between them. A moment where all they do is stare at each other; tension thick in the air. The pitter patter of the rain hitting the car outside cocooning them alone together. Kara’s eyes flick down to Lena’s lips momentarily and Lena’s eyes do the same. “T-thank you,” Lena stutters out, “for earlier.” 

“There’s no need to thank me Lena; I think I would pretty much do anything for you at this point. You know, you can talk to me, right? If someone is upsetting you.” 

Her blue eyes skim the map of the scars Lillian has left on her bare arms. It makes Lena’s heart race with nerves. “Yeah, I know,” is all Lena can say in response. 

Kara clenches and unclenches her jaw so quickly that if Lena had blinked, she would’ve missed it. Then she says, “I mean it. Really, I do. Even if it’s just to get something off your chest.”

“Thank you for the offer Kara, but really, there isn’t anything to talk about. I’ll, um… let you know though.”

Kara sighs. She knows Lena is lying and Lena knows that she knows. “Alright. But before you go, can I ask… who it was it on the phone?”

Lena has to look away so she stares into her lap. “My brother.” 

“Oh.” 

Kara sits back in her seat, surprised that Lena actually gave her a straight answer. “You’re brother?”

Lena shrugs, she’s picked up the habit from Kara. “He’s usually busy; he doesn’t call often.” 

“Is he older?” 

“9 years older.”

“Ghee! Alex is barely a year older than me.” 

It makes Lena laugh. “Nobody says ghee anymore Kara.” 

She smiles and puts her hands on her hips. “Well I. do.” 

Lena rolls her eyes and laughs. “See you next week Kara,” she says and steps out into the rain. 

As she walks back to her dorm, the rain starts to really pelt down. She doesn't even shiver as it soaks through her thin shirt and trickles down her back when it drips off her hair. Kara's touch keeps her warm as she rushes across the grounds and into the girls wing. 

There isn’t time to dry off before she’s grabbing her letter opener and pushing all the things from on top of Lex’s parcel onto the floor. She sits in her chair and splits it open. There are multiple folders inside and she can recognise Lex’s wolframia handwriting on the notes pages within them. On the front of the folders are the words ‘Project Cadmus’. She recognises the name Cadmus. He was a Greek hero who slayed monsters, they had a book about the Theban Kings from mythology in their library at the Luthor Manor. Lex would read it to her at night when she’d have nightmares about watching her mother drown again. He always knew how to distract her. 

The plans inside should shock Lena. The designs of weapons laced with kryptonite and spreadsheets full of the money he’s spent securing warehouses to manufacture the weapons that were supposed to go towards LuthorCorp’s research into gene therapy. There are notes on changing the corporation’s name to LexCorp, probably to spite Lionel, and to branch out into bioweapons and other genetically modifying pharmaceuticals, like deadly pesticides. Specific to target certain races of alien. Lena reads the list of targeted groups, they’re all humanoids. The ones who can hide among humans much easier and live their lives safely, and his plan is to out them and… kill them? 

The news should shock Lena, but it doesn’t. Maybe she didn’t expect the… genocide part, but the rest is sort of comprehensible to her. Alexander Luthor has never liked aliens, nor had Lionel Luthor or their grandfather Lachlan Luthor or any person in the Luthor family since aliens came to Earth. She’s pretty sure that that’s the only thing her father and Lillian had in common. Lena herself has never met an alien so how could she know whether she liked them or not? She grew up listening to Lex and Lionel spew their anger about the destruction Superman would cause over dinner, but when she went to school each day in Metropolis, she would see him swoop down and save lives right in front of her eyes and help people in need all the time. How could he possibly be the same man as the one Lex seemed to hate so much?

Even though there’s a clear theme of death and possible mass murder within the papers, Lena’s relieved. Lex doesn’t know about the prosthetic arm, or about her crush on Kara, or anything that could get her in trouble. At least, if he does, he’s not planning on telling their mother about it any time soon. 

There’s a note at the back of the folder that reads a location, and the words ‘call me’. Lena folds it up and puts in into the back of her phone case for safe keeping. She won’t call Lex tonight. She needs to work out the best strategy for talking him out of whatever it is he’s planning, and to do that she needs to understand what it is he’s planning. 

She ends up spending all night going over the mechanics of the weapons and the chemical formulas of the high kryptonite concentrations he’s using. Lex has built many weapons in the past. One’s meant for frying ants in their back garden, and, as they got older, ones meant for various alien refugees. Those weapons are nothing compared to the ones described in these sheets. The coding of the kryptonian DNA and a modified version where their powers are dulled down to human standards pops up often, as does Lillian’s name and someone called Bruno Mannheim. 

Of course Lillian is on board with this. Their mother probably encouraged it if anything. Mannheim, though, is not a name she’d heard before. Lena looks him up, but there are no results. He’s a ghost. Even on the dark web there are only traces, his name tagged along with large sums of money but nothing solid. 

She checks the time. 4am. That’s late, even for Lena’s standards. She has three hours for sleep. Luckily, she thinks she understands Lex’s plans now, so she lets herself drift off right there on the floor. 

-

The next morning, she isn’t woken up by her phone alarm going off like usual. It must of ran out of battery last night. Instead of her alarm, she has Veronica throwing her door open and practically shouting. “Damn Lena. Looks like you overslept… again. I hope Matron Josephine doesn’t find out,” she says with insincerity.

Lena rubs her eyes, she’s barely awake and slightly disorientated. “Lena Luthor get. Up. Now. You missed breakfast. You’re rooms a mess girl, look at yourself.” 

Is that Matron Josephine’s voice? Her brain is a little slow and her eyes take a while to adjust to the brightness of the light. She didn’t close the curtains either last night. “Lena! Are you listening to me?! I said get up! Tidy your room and brush your hair too!” 

_Yup, that's definitely her._ She pulls herself off the ground, papers falling off her lap and flowing everywhere. 

Oh shit, she thinks. There’s incriminating evidence scattered across her bedroom floor right now and there are two people in here who would probably rather see her in prison than late for a Thursday morning economics class. Lena wakes up straight away after that thought. “Sorry Matron Josephine,” she says, her voice is croaky, “I won’t be late to class, let me just get changed.” 

As she steps forward to show them out the door, they step back. Veronica sniggers and ducks out into the hallway, probably heading for her own lesson. Matron Josephine has a look of pure revulsion on her face. _How can someone be so angry so early in the morning?_

“This will go down on your hall card young lady!” she snaps and slams the door, “hurry up!” 

With her shouts echoing down the corridor, Lena does as she’s told. She’s left to speedily stack the papers up and lock them away in her safe, as well as get dressed and ready for class which starts in ten minutes. She narrowly avoids running across the school grounds and gets into the main school building just on time for class. She slides into her seat beside an incredulous looking Samantha Arias who hands Lena a coffee as her friend unpacks her textbooks for their lesson. “Why do you smell like rain?” she questions. 

“It rained… last night,” Lena points out. 

“Why were you out of your dorm last night? Did you sleep with Veronica?” Sam shout whispers. 

She seems to have forgotten about Lena’s good-relations-tutor-project. 

The accusation makes Lena choke on her drink. “Oh my god,” she manages to say, behind some wheezing as she coughs the coffee out of her windpipe, "why would you say that? _What makes you think that??”_

“Well, I saw her rushing to class this morning, and you didn’t come to breakfast. What was I supposed to think??” 

“Not that!”

“So… you didn’t sleep with her?” 

“No!”

“Okay, okay, sorry… Did you sleep with Morgan Edge then?” 

“SAM! I did not sleep with ANYONE last night.” 

For the record, she hasn't and _never_ will sleep with Morgan Edge, even if she was held at gun point.

“Why are you so late then?” Sam narrows her eyes. 

“I-… Lex called.” 

“Lex?? As in estranged half-brother with psychopathic tendencies Lex?” 

“What? Where did you get that from?” Lena looks up from writing the date and title in her workbook to stare dead on at Sam. 

“… I watch the news Lena.” 

“The news?”

“Yeah, he’s been criticized A LOT recently by some journalist guy at the Daily Planet. It’s become this whole thing.” 

“I didn't know.” 

Lena looks back down at her book to write out the starter questions. Maybe she wasn't paying as much attention to the news as she thought.

“What did he call you about then?” Sam asks.

“Um, some investment thing. Wants me to go over some numbers or something,” Lena lies. 

That reminds her, she needs to call him back soon. 

“That’s nice of him, to involve you.” 

If only that were true, Lena thinks. She could be put into prison for until she’s at least fifty for her involvement with him. She just shrugs in response. 

“That doesn’t explain-,” Sam starts, but the teacher cuts her off. 

“Oh I’m sorry Lena. I’ll wait for you to finish your conversation.” 

It’s Sam who hasn’t even written the date yet, but sure, it’s always Lena’s fault. “Sorry Miss,” she says, and turns away from Sam. 

“Maybe you’d like to explain to the class what it is you were talking about.” 

Lena looks around, everyone is staring right back at her. None of these people know her other than what they read about her family in the gossip column. They’re in the grade above her own. “I won’t interrupt again,” she promises. 

“No, whatever it is, it must be more important than fiscal policy, so, please, go ahead,” the teacher insists. 

Sam smirks, teachers always regret it when they do this to Lena Luthor. “Well, if you say so. I was just telling Sam about my period. You see, the average woman is supposed to bleed about four table spoons each month, right? But mine always seem to be so much heavier than that. I mean ruin-the-bed-heavier. _Every single month_. Do you know how many sheets I go through during my period? Four, _at least_. It just gets everywhere. You’re a woman, right miss? Perhaps you know some top tips to stop the... you know? ...Spread.” Lena says it with the utmost sincerity, that manages to shock a few students into silence.

The teacher has gone completely red and most of the class is snickering as they try to copy from the board. Private school teachers always do this with taboo subjects, and at least half the class has heard this from Lena before in her physics class although last time it was erectile disfunction with her made-up boyfriend and the teacher was a man. 

“Well, Lena. I think you should bring that up with the school nurse. Now is not the time to be discussing such things,” the teacher tries to redeem herself. 

Everyone laughs harder and it takes a while for the class to settle down. Most people by this point know not to fuck with Lena.

-

By break time, she’s starving, having skipped breakfast. Sam gets the three of them food, whilst Lena gets started on tutoring Jack in his maths. He’s an easy student. Not saying that Kara is necessarily a bad one, it’s just that he actually needs tutoring- Lena’s started to notice that all Kara needs is reminding, like she’s learnt it all before. 

She’s walking him through triple bracket expanding as Sam sets down three brown bags and three cups. “Thank you,” Jack says, not looking up from his booklet.

“Thanks Sam,” Lena says. 

Ever since Sam started showing (a week or so ago), she’s been wearing baggier cardigans and larger blazers. It’s weird to get used to considering she’s worn thin cardigans tucked into her skirt for the past two years. “What’re you looking at?” Sam asks, accusatorily. 

“Nothing,” Lena says, “just wandering where you got your clothes from.” 

“I lent them to her,” Jack says, still not looking up from his work. 

“Yeah, just until I can get a job and buy my own clothes. I gave a shop in Midvale my reference after my last check up but they haven’t called me back yet,” Sam says, sighing.

“You’re getting a job?” Lena asks.

Jack finally looks up, “What??”

“How else am I supposed to provide for my kid?” Sam laughs, a short and unpleasant sounds.

“Sam,” Jack snorts, "me and Lena have been designing a prosthetic arm that will pay for you and your kid for the rest of your lives.” 

“W-what are you talking about??” Sam stutters out.

“We’re making a prosthetic and all the profits we make from it will go into an account that you can access to buy whatever you need for a baby,” Jack motions roughly towards Sam’s midsection. 

“You guys, I don’t-,” Sam starts to wave them off.

“Sam, we know you don’t need us to do this. But as your friends, we want to. Besides. The money may be going to you, but the prosthetic will also be an advantage in the process of getting into MIT for me and Jack so it’s not like we’re doing it selflessly,” Lena explains. 

“Since when were you both going to MIT?” 

“Since Jack decided he can’t be here without us both,” Lena sighs. 

“I’m coming too then,” Sam announces. 

“Didn’t think for a second that you weren’t,” Jack winks at Sam across the table.

The gesture makes everyone cringe, and that ends in them all laughing so hard that Lena has stomach cramp for the rest of break. 

-

Another thing that’s started happening recently is the frequent texting. It starts in the morning and, quite a few times, ends late into the night. Kara had made her get Snapchat, which made Sam happy and extremely suspicious (given that she’d been constantly nagging for Lena to get Snapchat and Lena had always refused in the past). She’s has managed to avoid an interrogation so far. 

Anyway, now that she has Snapchat, Kara will send her photos throughout the day- usually when she’s bored in class or before afternoon football training. There’s been many occasions in which Lena had gotten a photo of her and James in the school gym and Lena’s mind has gone completely blank. Unlike in Midvale High, phones are banned during class hours in Mount Helena; she can only reply during lunch or break during the school day.

Today however, Lena hasn’t had the chance to reply to any of her texts from Kara because she had a chess practice during her lunch break. And then, on her way back to her dorm at the end of the day, she gets a phone call. After the phone call yesterday, her stomach does somersaults until she sees the caller ID. 

**Incoming Call from 'KD'.**

Lena promptly ducks behind the girls wing for privacy (the walls in the dormitories are thin) and answers the call. 

“Lena! Are you okay?” Kara immediately exclaims. 

“Hey Kara. I’m fine, why?” she replies quietly. 

“You haven’t answered any of my snaps all day and after yesterday I got worried. Are you sure you’re alright?” 

Her tone has so much softness in it and Lena bites her lip unconsciously. “I got up late, so it’s been a pretty hectic day, that’s all. Sorry I haven’t answered you’re texts.”

“No, no Lena. It’s okay, just wanted to check in is all. I’m... glad you’re okay.” 

She can picture the relaxed, crooked smile on Kara’s face. “What’re you doing right now?” Lena shyly asks. 

“I’m at practice, why?” Kara says, her smile growing. 

“Just wandering, you’re breathing heavily.” 

“O-oh,” Kara flusters at the implications, “I’m warming up. What-what’re you… doing r-right now?” 

“Nothing, I’m outside.” 

“Outside? Don’t you have class?” 

“I’ve finished all my classes for the day.”

“Oh yeah, of course. Well, I really just called to make sure you were okay, and now that I know you are, I guess I can go,” Kara splutters out. 

“Thank you for calling. It’s sweet of you.” 

Lena hears a muffled whine. “O-okay Lena. See you Wednesday.” 

“Bye.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like this one. Dunno if you can tell but I've got some badly timed writers block right now.


	8. Lena's Luthor Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena and Lex talk about the genocide.  
> Lena and Veronica face off against each other.  
> This one features a bit of homophobic language and violence, so be warned.

By Monday, she’s calmed down enough to call Lex and not go completely Lillian Luthor on him. He’d probably laugh and ignore her if she did that anyway. Waiting a few days to call him back is worth his anger in the end because he lets her talk it through rather than speeding through the facts and letting them get forgotten. She thinks that maybe if he hears the truth out loud, he’ll hear how crazy it sounds and actually think it through, and maybe, just maybe, Lena will be able to stay calm for this ludicrous conversation.

“Let me get this right. So, your plan-.”

“Project Cadmus,” Lex corrects. 

“Project Cadmus,” she continues, “is _your plan_ to kill all of Metropolis’ alien refugees who have fled to Earth over the years, including Superman?”

“If that’s how you see it, sure.” 

“How else am I supposed to see it Lex? Is that _not_ what you plan to do?!” 

“I see it more as an infestation. Earth will be safer once the threat is eradicated, it’s no different from if someone were to find a hornet's nest in their attic and got the exterminator to eradicate it.” 

“Are you really comparing someone removing insects from their home to you _killing_ dozens of aliens?!” 

“Lena, Lena, Lena. For an IQ tested Genius, you are very slow,” he laughs at his own joke,” I’m not going to kill just aliens, I am going to kill everyone who knows them too. Their friends, their families, even their fucking pets.”

It wouldn’t be so scary if he’d kept on laughing; Lena is used to his mania by now. But no, he says it calmly. As though they’re talking about dinner options and not the murder of thousands of people.

“Besides dear sister, you’re wrong. Project Cadmus isn’t just this plan. It’s a defence organisation, this plan is just the first step towards a better tomorrow. It’s Cadmus’ first step into being known and the world being safe.”

Lena’s blood runs cold as she repeats that phrase in her head. ‘Just the first step’. If this is ‘just the first step’, what is the next? _What could be worse than genocide?_

“It’s a terrorist group not a defence organisation Lex!” she retorts, unable to choose between scoffing and shouting. 

So much for being calm for this conversation. 

Her explosion of anger sets something off in her short-tempered brother’s brain. “You’ve always been so fucking self-righteous Lena. Not everything that’s against the law is wrong. You can see that all throughout history. At least try to wrap your faultless little brain around the fact that sometimes doing something bad is for the good of- of everyone, everything! This is one of those times!” 

Lena holds the phone away from her head as he lists off examples of the government being in the wrong, starting with slavery. She hears the mention of Nazis in between her deep breathes. 

“Why?” she questions, “why kill all these people who aren’t doing anything wrong?” 

It takes a second for what she’s said to register in Lex’s head but once it does…

“Aren’t doing anything-,” he bursts out with laughter in utter disbelief at his sisters words but cuts himself off quickly. His voice is deep and serious when he next speaks, “you really are stupid. All it takes is one of those creatures to have a bad temper and we’re all helpless, and the government is letting thousands of those brutes walk around on this planet right now. They don’t think like us Lena, no matter how much you wish they did, they don’t have our sense of right and wrong. They can just take, take, take. Don’t you think it’s time for someone to stand up for us humans? It’s our fucking planet after all.” 

Lena has to swallow against the rising dread lodged in her throat. “Lex, please-.”

“Do not Lex please me Lena,” he sighs, “you need to start thinking like a Luthor, to do what’s right even when people say you’re wrong… Think of this as a test. To prove to me that you are… dedicated to your Luthor blood, that you are someone I can rely on. To prove to mother that you aren’t as _pathetic_ as she thinks you are. All you have to do is write up some detonation codes for me,” he continues, condescending as ever, “just a few lines, nobody else around here seems competent enough to do it, and, of course, you have to keep this our little secret- just between me and you.” 

This used to work on Lena. Lex would use her, her need to be seen as equal to him in their mother’s eyes and her need to always impress him, against her, to manipulate her into doing things for him. Things like this. 

But she’s learnt that she’ll never be able to reach that standing in either of their eyes.

She’ll always be Lena Luthor: bastard child of Lionel, loved more dearly to him than his scotch or legitimate son. And they will never forgive her for it.

“What makes you think I would ever do that for you Lex?!” she spits, “this is… it’s insane.”

“To you perhaps. I suppose, you have always had a soft spot for the castaways, haven’t you? Of course you want to save the aliens, that’s my mistake really, I should’ve known you would. But you’re mistaken this time, it’s not insane, you just have to see the bigger picture. It’s only a matter of time before someone like Superman comes out of the shadows with their weapons aimed right at us that you see sense. I’m not willing to sit and wait for it to happen and someday you’ll all be thanking me for it. Superman has already done enough to the people on this planet, wouldn’t you say, dear sister?”

“Lex listen to yourself! You are the on in the shadows with your weapons aimed at the vulnerable-.”

“No Lena!” he snaps, “you’re not listening to me. These monsters aren’t vulnerable, and nor are any of those people who try to hide them, they have all their powers and their militaries. How do you think we are supposed to protect ourselves if the government is cuddled up to the danger? I know it’s Superman at the base of it all. Kryptonians are made to obliterate and devastate. Or don’t you remember General Zod’s invasion? If I’m recalling this correctly, Cindy Ryan’s brother and father both died due to a building collapsing that day.”

Cindy Ryan was Lena’s worst nightmare at Grass Moore Private School in Metropolis – a school she was expelled from for hacking the school systems and changing people’s records in exchange for money. It was back when Lionel was either sick, drunk or at work and Lex was still at home on an internship at LuthorCorp before going to college. Cindy Ryan had tried to take Lena’s boyfriend at the time, Andrew Sikora, and Lena had exposed her entire diary to the whole school. She doesn’t even know why she did it; she didn’t like Andrew that much and Cindy was only annoying her to piss her off. Lillian was ecstatic about her cruel act though- that was the first time she’d called Lena a Luthor since her adoption. 

It was only a week after exposing Cindy that General Zod tried to invade Earth and came through Metropolis to do it, destroying buildings and killing countless people as he did so despite Superman’s efforts. Cindy lost half her family that day and, she’d lost all her friends after what Lena had done, so she had no one to comfort her.

Lena will never forgive herself for that.

“It was Superman’s fault that General Zod came to Earth, and it was his fault that all those people died. That’s what aliens do, Lena. They break things and they don’t care about the consequences,” Lex goes on.

“You can’t-,” Lena tries to argue but she’s interrupted once again. 

“Lena, Lena. Stop. I didn’t want to have to do this, but you’re clearly not going to see things my way,” he takes a deep breath, “you see, dear sister, you don’t actually have any choice in this. I need that code, and you’re the only one I know and trust enough to write it.”

There’s a pause and Lena can hear movement on the other side of the phone. It only lasts a minute or so, but it feels like hours. Hours where Lena holds her breath and her muscles stay tensed in anticipation. 

“I’ve recently found out about your Arias friend’s secret pregnancy. The pictures of that growth are clear as day on her medical files, it’s not exactly hard to find,” he barks out a laugh, “she sure is hiding something big; I hate to think about what her Catholic parents would make of it all… _if_ they were to find out that is.”

There’s a pause as he lets the threat sink deep into Lena’s mind. Her mouth goes dry. 

He snickers at her lack of response and continues, “I wonder what the court would think about all that money you’re funnelling into that secret account of yours too? Even better, I wonder what they’d think about said friend’s card that’s linked to the account? A first offence for a class two felon is one-year Lena, I’m sure it only takes nine months to make a full baby, and by the looks of those pictures, she’s well into her third month all ready. I could go on and on, but there’s other things I’ve got to do tonight. I won’t even get started on your trade deals with neuroprostheic companies and late-night trips to steal materials from your engineering teacher’s lab. That could get you expelled. You should know by now that nothing you do can slip passed me. Luckily for you, they have slipped right passed mother. We both know she’s looking for a reason to send you off to Arkham Asylum before you even make it to MIT, so it’d be better for you if she didn’t find out about any of that at the moment, don’t you agree?”

Lena nods her head, her throat being too hoarse to reply with anything substantial. Then, when Lex doesn’t continue, she realises her mistake. He can’t see the nod of her head, and she should be grateful for that- it means he can’t see her wide eyes and paler-than-usual face either. “I guess,” she croaks.

“I guess?” he repeats, his laugh a mockery. 

Lena hears another voice over his chuckles and then Lex breathes out harshly. “Alright little sister, I must go, as I said, there are more important things for me to be doing with my time. I’ll text you the instructions. Don’t let me down.” 

Then he ends the call. 

For a few moments, Lena is just stood there completely frozen to the spot she’s stood in behind the gym shed. She can’t think, she can’t see, she can’t breathe. Everything in her head is jumbled up and confused. 

One thought surface’s above all the others. 

_He knows._

_He knows._

_He knows._

_He knows_ about the prosthetic, _he knows_ about Sam’s baby, _he knows_ about Mark Meyer and Lena’s hacking when she was drunk, he probably knows about Kara too for all she’s aware of. 

There’s one thing she can’t figure out though: how. _How?!_

Then it hits her square in the chest. 

There must be someone watching her. 

Here, the library, the dining hall, her room, Sam’s room, her teachers laboratory. 

She glances around the side of the gym shed, as if to check, but obviously there’s no one there. There never is. She turns back to hide behind the mossy wood and stares up into the security camera she’d thought was unused. It moves slightly as if to mock her, she jumps and scrambles to pick up her school bag and pockets her phone, rushing to get away from its view, but there are cameras everywhere. As soon as she gets away from one, another comes staring down at her, their little red lights blinking at her as she walks. Lena forces herself to look away and instead focus on getting to her dorm room. 

Her room where she’d worked, slept, gotten changed, been naked, touched herself. The one place on Earth she thought there’d be privacy. 

As soon as she gets in, she slams the door shut behind herself. It’s late so she should be more careful about the noise, but right now another strike on her hall card is the least of Lena’s worries. 

Immediately, she takes all of her notes out of her safe, separating the prosthetic notes from Lex’s parcel, and puts them both in her school bag, along with her laptop and the first prosthetic model. 

She can sort all that out tomorrow, right now she needs to find whatever it is Lex is using to spy on her.

She digs around in the stacks of books on her desk, the pile of clothes, her pot of pens, the draws of her desk, the cushioning of her chair, the taps on the sink. Still, there’s nothing to be found. Nobody can be looking through her laptop camera; it’s covered with tape permanently, and her phone is in a similar situation. And then she looks at her light and catches it. A tiny black camera sticking out from the inside of the lightshade. 

She rips it from its position and crunches it beneath her heavy Doc Marten boots. 

After the camera is less than a few smashed pieces of plastic, she turns back up to the lamp. There’s a wire up there pocking out from a tiny hole in her ceiling.

So, Lena drags her chair over, climbs onto it, and reaches up to pull the wire out. And when she tugs on it the ceiling, where the wire must be running on top of, crumbles with it. “Shit,” she winces as the white flakes flutter down onto the carpet to join the broken camera. 

The cleaner will not be pleased. 

With her heart racing and blood thrumming with adrenaline, she climbs back down onto the floor and opens one of the paper-filled draws of her desk. It only takes a second of rummaging to find, but when she pulls the magnet out, she’s quick to use it. She runs it along the roof where she imagines the wire is and follows the magnet’s pull as she moves her chair along the floor. It leads her right to her door, out into the corridor (lucky for her the hall monitor is asleep already), and straight into Veronica’s room opposite. 

_She should have fucking known._

Her ex-friend can get the security guards to hand over the footage in return for money… or, more likely, drugs easily. The only rooms without cameras are the bathrooms and bedrooms, and Veronica has access to monitoring equipment due to her parents less-than-honest business. And it’s a huge give away that Lena blew Veronica’s advances off last week; she has a motive. It’s almost obvious that Veronica is the one who’s been spying on her. 

Lena violently pushes her desk chair back into her room and then barges into Veronica’s without knocking. 

The girl bolts upright in her bed, dressed in a random heavy metal band t-shirt that Veronica’s probably never listened to before and nothing else, and shouts at Lena immediately. “Get out Luthor,” she demands. 

Lena throws the middle finger up at the girl and grabs Veronica’s desk chair. There’s clothes all over it, all of which she tips onto the floor. Then she proceeds to stand on the chair and continue following the magnet’s pull, right to another tiny hole in the ceiling that the wire pokes out of. 

“The fuck are you doing?!” Veronica has pulled on her sleep shorts now and is out of bed. 

Lena doesn’t bother to turn and face her as she indignantly says, “don’t act like you don’t know Veronica. We may have fallen out, but Jesus Christ, spying on me for my brother is a bit far.” 

The realisation of what’s going on finally hits her and she scrambles for her phone. Lena rushes to stop her. “Don’t you fucking dare,” Lena grabs the phone first and pushes Veronica back so that she falls against the wood of her bed with a grunt, “what? Were you actually going to call him? And say what? _Please Lex, you’re sister who I’ve been watching for- for months has found out about it._ ” 

Outside the room, the other girls have heard the commotion and Lena hears one say, “go and get the Matron.” 

“News flash Veronica, he’s the one who told me about it! How much is he paying you?!” 

Veronica quickly steps forward and makes to grab at the phone, but Lena pulls it away. Despite the Sinclair girl being a few inches taller, Lena manages to keep it out of her reach. “How much Veronica?! Tell me!” 

She growls in frustration and elbows the Luthor which makes Lena fall forwards enough for her to grab her phone back. “Nothing Lena. He’s paying me nothing,” Veronica says it with a smile, and it makes Lena’s blood boil, “it’s payback.” 

That is what cuts the last string keeping her anger at bay. Payback for _what_?! she wants to scream. Veronica is the one who violated her privacy so completely. Instead, she uses the bottom of her palm to smack Veronica’s nose with all the force she can muster. It’s enough to knock the other girl to the floor. 

In the time it takes for Veronica to get back on her feet, Lena manages to tear the wire out of the ceiling and snap the monitor that Veronica was keeping all the footage on clean in half. 

Before she can turn around again, Veronica is pouncing on her they both go crashing to the floor. On the way down, Lena awkwardly hits her hip off the desk, and she clenches her jaw against the sudden pain that shoots across her side from it. Veronica is on top of her, with blood running down her face from her nose, and brings her fist down on Lena, hitting her in the face. 

Veronica may be strong, but she’s light, and Lena easily flips them, but she makes it so that Veronica is on her front with her face in the carpet. She grabs the girl’s arms and twists them so that she can’t break out from the hold. Lena leans down to whisper in her ear, “nothing you do will ever be pay back because you can never win. You can’t have me.” 

“Don’t act so smug Lena,” Veronica spits back, but it’s muffled by the rug, making it quietened, “I’ve heard you moaning, watched you fuck yourself on three fingers for that girl. Whoever Kara is, you can’t have her either. You can never have who you want Lena, or don’t you remember? _Luthor’s aren’t queer._ ” 

It catches Lena off guard that Veronica remembers that. Lillian said it at a Christmas Party once, when Veronica’s mother had pointed out that Lena was acting very friendly with one of the female servers. Lillian had laughed her off, saying ‘Luthor’s aren’t queer.’ 

That was the first night Lena and Veronica had shared a bed. 

Matron Josephine steps across the threshold right at that moment. “Stop this! Get up off the floor you disgraceful girls!” she shouts. 

Lena jumps at the sound of it and slowly sands up, stamping on the backs of Veronica’s calves as she does it, and Veronica follows, blood now smeared across her chin.

“Would one of you mind explaining what on Earth is going on?!” the Matron orders. 

They both looked away. Lena because she knew that whatever she’d say would be twisted into making her the guilty one. And Veronica because she knew she is in the wrong but would rather die than admit it. 

“You have nothing to say for yourselves?” the Matron tuts, “well then, you’ll both be in detention for the rest of the week and I’ll be sure to call your parents, I’d like to see what they’d make of this.” 

Lena was thinking the same.

“Veronica, go to the nurses office right now. Lena, clean this mess up. Then go straight to bed. Both of you. I don’t want to see your faces for the rest of the night. Do you hear me? There is no excuse for this behaviour. Go. Now.” 

Veronica dodges passed Matron Josephine and through the crowd of bystanders in the direction of the stair well. “I can’t say this was unexpected Lena, but I still manage to be disappointed in you. I can assure you, Principal Scott will be hearing about this,” she warns before leaving. 

Lena spends all night trying to get the tiny pieces of camera out of her carpet and avoiding leaning on her bruising side. 

It doesn’t help that Lex texts his instructions as she does it. 

-

The next morning, Lena sits up and instantly winces in pain. Her head is throbbing, it hurts to blink, and feels as though someone is constantly bashing her side with a brick. “Fuck,” she groans as she swings her legs over the side of her bed. 

Sluggishly, she lifts up her top to reveal a dark purple bruise discolouring her side, spreading from where she hit fell against the desk to where Veronica elbowed her. 

Veronica. 

Images of last night flash through Lena’s mind and her head hurts impossibly more. “Fuck,” she mumbles again. 

This is going to be a bad week. 

She hobbles over to her sink and sucks in a sudden breath at the sight of herself. Under her eye is a deep blue line surrounded by a lighter purple bruise which bleeds into a lighter pink around her eye lid. If Lillian Luthor is coming to visit, she cannot keep this bruise and, even though Lena has plenty of makeup herself, she doesn’t have a concealer strong enough to cover it. She pulls out her phone and presses in Sam’s number. 

“Lena!” Sam shouts down the phone, “are you okay?! Andrea told me there was a fight last night.”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Lena lies, not only is she unbelievably bruised, but she’s starting to dread her mother’s reaction. She’s a part of Cadmus as well which, now that Lena’s aware of it, only adds to her anxiety. Should she bring it up with the woman? Will she get the chance? 

“Are you sure? Andrea told me the Matron had to split you up.” 

Of course Andrea would say that. Veronica probably didn’t want to tell her she’d already lost the fight by the time Matron Josephine had arrived. 

“She didn’t split us up, she just made us stop. Anyway, it doesn’t matter now. I called to ask if you have any concealer?” Lena gets to the point. 

“Plenty, why?” 

“I ran out of my own.”

“Oh, well, I don’t know if I have one in your tone, but I can look. Do you want me to bring it to you?” 

“Yes please,” Lena says. 

And then Sam arrives, her palest concealer in hand, “Lena! Oh my God! You’re face!” 

“Shhh,” Lena hisses, “the walls are thin.”

“You need ice, not makeup,” Sam comes inside and closes the door behind herself. 

“Don’t mom me,” Lena sighs, taking the bottle from her friends hand and going over to her sink. 

“I’m going to kill Veronica, someone needs to teach that stuck up prick a lesson,” Sam bursts, “I can’t believe she did that to you.” 

“I can believe it, Veronica is sort of a masochist if you haven’t noticed,” Lena laughs, but it’s strained. 

After listening to Sam rant about all the ways she’s going to end Veronica (physically and socially) and liberally applying the concealer to her eye until all that’s visible is what looks like a bad eye-bag, they both make it to the dining hall, where they meet Jack, in time for breakfast. 

“Jesus Christ Lena, you look like shit,” he says bluntly as they all set down their trays.

“Thank you, Jack,” Lena says, wincing when she sits down, “I’m so glad I can count on you to always make me feel better.” 

Sam slaps him in the arm with a ‘seriously?’ look on her face.

“It’s true,” he holds his hands up in surrender, “so I’m guessing it’s also true that you and she-who-shall-not-be-named had a fight last night. You want to tell us what is was about?” 

“Later.” 

At that moment, Veronica walks into the dining hall, Andrea trailing behind, and it feels as though the whole room turns to look at her. Jack immediately bursts out with a laugh that he tries his best to supress and Sam whispers, “ignore what I was saying earlier, you clearly took care of everything.” 

The girl in question is sporting a huge bruise around nose and under her eyes and a swollen cut on the bridge of her nose. She shoots daggers at Lena across the large space, and the Luthor hears a few gasps and whispered, “oh my”-s. She looks down at her plate, her eyes wide and a grin sneaking onto her face. 

“Lena Kieran Luthor, you are such a badass,” Jack whispers, which makes Lena laugh and she winces as it pulls on her bruised face, “you gave Veronica the biggest bruise in Mount Helena history.”

“Gheez, Lee, what did you do?” Sam chastises. 

“Yeah, I mean, her parents will sue yours until you’re in prison, but, in my opinion, it was totally worth it,” Jack adds. 

“They won’t,” Lena scoffs.

Lillian and the Sinclair’s have always been friends, but only out of convenience. They both know LuthorCorp is worth billions more dollars than all the Sinclair Casino’s combined (without including the LuthorCorp investments and subsidiaries), and Lillian almost certainly has some dirt on them too just in case. Her mother won’t care enough about this fight and probably wants to avoid the media attention that this would receive if she were to sue the Sinclair’s herself. Suing is out of the question. 

“Lena, I’m serious. Her face is so fucked up, why’d you do that?” Sam scolds her.

It sends a shiver down Lena’s back to think about what Veronica did to deserve a near-broken-nose. It makes her feel disgusting to think about someone watching her sleep, watching her get dressed, brushing her teeth, doing homework, getting off, without her knowing. What Veronica’s done has gotten Sam’s child’s future threatened and has endangered thousands more aliens on Earth. But it’s the spying that makes her most uncomfortable. 

“Veronica tried to get involved in family affairs,” Lena puts it as vague as possible, “and it bit her in the ass.” 

“Bit her in the nose more like,” Jack says, bursting out with laughter again as he chances another glance at Veronica- who is still glaring at Lena. 

The people sat around them are giving them odd stares and it warms Lena’s Luthor heart. 

Sam rolls her eyes at Jack and tucks happily into her toast and marmite now that her morning sickness is going away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and for the comments on the last chapter- they helped me push though a bit of writers block! Please leave kudos if you liked it.  
> Next chapter'll be Kara's reaction so stay tuned


	9. So Fragile

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara's reaction and some trio stuff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you like this one.  
> I just figured out how to use semi-colons correctly so there's that

Lena was right about one thing; this week has been utter shit.

Right after breakfast, she was shouted at by Principal Scott for an hour straight about her behaviour and her future at the school- not helping her headache at all. Then she’d spent the rest of the day doing maths problems in the library with Veronica sat at the table over, her death stare relentless the entire time. They were both made to have their break, lunch, breakfast and dinner’s alone in their rooms and had to be escorted by a Matron everywhere they went, so she didn’t get the chance to talk to Sam or Jack at all. 

She planned on setting fire to all of Lex’s notes that night, but with a Matron sat outside her door and being the third floor up, she wasn’t able to get out to do it. Besides, she might need them if she ends up writing that code. Even with all these empty hours on her hands, she can’t figure out any way around Lex’s blackmail. She’s re-written her drunken code to hide her illegal money stealing and put up a hefty firewall around Sam’s medical notes, but by now Lex probably has his own copies of all the files. One thing he definitely doesn’t have though is her and Jack’s prosthetic notes because they’re all on paper. 

There’s only one way to ensure he never gets a hold of them. 

So, on Wednesday she meets Jack and Sam by the gates of school before leaving for her tutor session with Kara. It hasn’t stopped raining since last week, so they’re all hidden under the sound of rain on gravel and the heavy cloak the raindrops create. 

“You’re eye’s looking better,” Sam notices. 

“Feels better too,” Lena replies.

It’s true, her eye is less swollen now and it hurts much less to blink or roll her eyes, no thanks to Matron Josephine who refuses to let her see the school nurse. Apparently, if she didn’t want to get hurt, she shouldn’t have started a fight. 

Lena takes her bag off her back and unzips it. “Jack, I need you to keep these.” She hands him all their notes, as well as their first model and all their business documents. 

“What? Why?” Jack takes them from her hand hesitantly, “you know I’m not reliable with this stuff.” 

Lena takes a deep breath. Here goes nothing. “Well, my brother got Veronica to spy on me and now he knows what we’re doing so I can’t keep them.” 

“He what??” Sam exclaims.

“Why??” Jack bursts, “what’s it got to do with him??” 

“Erm.” Lex told her to keep everything a secret. “He, erm, he wants me to focus on my studies and not get distracted,” she blurts, which could not be further from the truth. 

“Is that why you and Veronica had the fight?” Sam asks. 

Lena nods, she supposes that’s not a complete lie. 

“Gheez,” Jack sighs and tucks all of it into his long coat, “no offence Lee, but you’re brother’s sort of a dick.”

Lena laughs. “I couldn’t agree more.” 

“You guys,” Sam starts and they both turn to look at her. 

From the pictures Sam has sent Lena, her baby bump has begun to show properly now. Though you would never have guessed by just looking at her because of the amount of layers she insists on wearing all the time to hide it. “I was wandering if you’d come with me to look at flats this weekend. I’m thinking of getting one in Midvale, to stay close to you two until we go to Massachusetts.”

“Of course,” they both say in sync, a smile on their faces. 

Sam let’s out a breath, like she’d thought they might have actually said no. “Thank you guys,” she says. 

“No problem Sam, what’re friends for,” Jack smiles wider. 

They both beam at each other, and Lena joins in until her reminder goes off telling her she should be in Midvale right now. 

“Well, I’d best be going. I don’t want to be walking in the dark.” 

“Actually, uh, Lena. I was wandering if I could ask you a favour?” Sam says. 

“Sure, what is it?” 

Sam stutters and blushes as she glances at Jack. He clears his throat, “I’m just going to get a head start, it’s cold out tonight, you know?” 

Sam smiles at him gratefully as he leaves to head back to the dorms. 

She turns back to Lena. “There are some vitamins my doctor said I should be taking,” she says as she pulls some small papers out of her pocket, “I was hoping you could stop by the pharmacy and pick them up for me?”

“Sam, you know I will. How else am I supposed to win position of God-mother?” Lena takes the list from Sam and reads it over, “I’ll get them to you in economics tomorrow.” 

Sam smiles gratefully and holds out a few dollars for Lena. Lena sighs. “Don’t worry about that Sam, I can buy them.”

“They’re _my vitamins_ , you’re already doing enough for me.” 

“Well let me do one more thing,” Lena insists, already opening the gate so Sam can’t argue anymore. 

“See you tomorrow,” she calls to her friend as she makes her way down into Midvale. 

-

The boy, Winslow, is at the till again when Lena enters the pharmacy. This time though, he’s stood beside an older man who looks exactly like him besides the colour of their eyes. It’s almost uncanny. 

As Lena looks through the list Sam gave her and picks out a bunch of ‘prenatal gummies’, the older man ducks into the back of the shop carrying a large box of capsule medication. At that moment, she takes them up to the counter and Winslow scans them. “Hello again,” he greets her. 

“Hi,” she replies. 

“Congratulations then,” he says, a smile on his face as he shakes one of the bottles. 

She can’t be bothered to correct him or do any explaining, so she just mumbles a, “thanks,” and takes out her card. 

“That’ll be $30,” he says, putting them in a bag. 

Lena punches in her pin and puts the plastic bag in her backpack. “Thank you,” she says, staring at the counter. 

Then a thought occurs to her, “erm, do you live here? In Midvale I mean.” 

It’d be good to get an insider opinion if Sam’s set to live here in a month or so. 

The boy looks a little taken aback by the question, his eyebrows raised as he thinks it through. “Yeah, a few blocks from here. Why?” 

“Do you think it’s a good place to live? Like, are the people friendly? Are there things to do?” 

From what Lena has encountered so far, the people are plenty friendly, but it could just be happenstance. 

“I think the people are good. I mean, there are a few assholes, but they tend to keep to themselves anyway. And there’s not much in the winter and fall except football I guess, but summer is good here, we’re by the sea-side so it’s very… sea-side like.”

“Sea-side like,” Lena repeats, lightly teasing the boy, “very insightful thank you.” 

He laughs nervously, “I haven’t seen you around before, outside of the shop… I mean, but I recognise your face. Do you go to Midvale High?” 

“No,” Lena replies, “just visiting.”

Then she practically bolts from the shop to avoid further questioning. He might have seen her in the news once or twice, maybe even in town the few times she’s snuck out with Sam or Jack. 

He seems like a nice boy, but Lena barely trusts the people she knows, let alone strangers. 

-

Kara texted that Alex and Jeremiah are out on a run again, despite the rain, and Eliza is at her book club like always, so she and Lena are left alone. Which Lena is extremely grateful for; the swelling has gone down around her eye but the bruising is pretty obvious even beneath all the concealer she’d lathered onto it earlier. For some reason, she wants the Danvers to like her, and she feels like them seeing her black eye wouldn’t help with that. 

She knocks on the door and hears a “come in,” shout from upstairs, so she walks in and slowly climbs the stairs. 

Kara is sat at her desk when Lena strolls in, sweatpants on and hair up. Just the sight of the other girl makes Lena relax. The tenseness bleeds out of her shoulders and her tight posture falls into something more natural. It feels like she can be just Lena here, instead of the _Lena Luthor_ most people know. She takes off her damp coat as Kara finishes up whatever it is she’s writing. “Hey Lena, I was-,” Kara starts, as she spins around in her chair and then her eyes widen, “Oh Rao, Lee! _What happened to your face?_ ”

She rushes over to cup Lena’s cheeks in her hands and stare down sadly at her.

“You should see the other guy,” Lena jokes, but her voice falls flat. 

Kara runs her thumb delicately across the patch of purple skin and lightly brushing it on every down stroke. 

“So fragile,” she mumbles seemingly to herself, and then, louder than beforehand, asks, “are you okay?” 

Lena tries, she really does, not to let the amount of care Kara is pouring into her from those furrowed brows get to her. She’s managed it all the way up to this point. But as she goes to answer that she’s fine, her lip trembles. 

Kara immediately pulls her into a hug and holds her tight. Lena breathes in big gulps of vanilla and the unadulterated _Kara_ to help keep herself from crying. She hasn’t cried this much since… well, ever. It’s ridiculous that she’s starting to now. 

Lena winces when Kara squeezes her bruised side tighter and the blonde leans back. “A-are you hurt here too?” Kara asks, poking exactly where she hit it. 

Lena closes her eyes as a stab of pain shoots from where the bruise is darkest. “Can I see?” Kara asks, tentatively. 

Her eyes fly open and she searches Kara’s that’re looking down at her intently. What it is she’s searching for in them, Lena isn’t quite sure yet. Ulterior motives? To mock her? To shout at her? To be disappointed in her? But all she finds within the blondes crystal-clear eyes is genuine concern. 

“Okay,” Lena nods and steps back so that Kara can untuck her shirt. 

She stares at Kara’s face as the taller girl lifts the top up to expose her stomach and side. Kara’s eyes widen even further, and a light blush colours her cheeks. “Lena, you need to put ice on this,” Kara adamantly tells her. 

“I haven’t had the chance,” Lena replies. 

“You haven’t put _any_ on?? Lena! Come with me.”

Kara grabs her hand and marches onto the landing and heads for the stairs.

After the first step down, the raven-haired girl has to stop and takes a ragged breath, alternating putting her weight on each foot as though the wood was on fire and burning through her boots in order to make the pain go away sooner. 

“ _Ow, ow, ow._ Kara, I can’t go that fast. Climbing the stairs hurts, I have to go slow,” Lena scolds as the blonde almost makes them run down. 

Her solution is to pick Lena up and carry her down the stairs herself. 

“Kara!” Lena squeals in surprise as her feet are lifted from the floor by two strong hands on her ribs, carefully avoiding her bruised side. 

Kara ignores her reaction and carries her, bridal style, into the kitchen, where she sets her down onto the marble top island. 

“I don’t think that was completely necessary. I can walk you know. I just have to do it at my own pace on stairs at the moment.” 

“I understand that, but it hurt way less doing it my way, right?” Kara says it with a cocky grin on her face that makes Lena’s insides warm up.

Lena lets out an amused laugh because, of course Kara was thinking about her comfort. She nods in response to her question; she supposes Kara's right- it didn't actually hurt at all. The hands on her body distracted her from any pain she might have felt (not that she wants Kara to know that, so she just keeps her mouth shut). 

Kara grins at the easy victory and turns around to rummage through the top shelf of one of the kitchen cabinets. She takes out a hefty first-aid kit and sets it down beside Lena.

“Gheez,” Lena gawks, “why do you have so much first aid stuff?” 

Kara awkwardly rubs the back of her neck as she riffles through the box. “Oh you know… I’m pretty clumsy and Alex wasn’t very good at avoiding me when we were younger.”

The blonde doesn’t feel the need to mention dislocating Alex’s shoulder by hugging her too hard or breaking her hand by squeezing it too much when she'd first arrived on Earth. It was sort of Alex’s fault her hand got broken anyway: Kara had never seen a horror movie before, and Alex was the one who decided to hold her hand during a jump scare. 

Lena laughs and winces as it jostles her side and pinches at her eye, “makes sense.” 

“Come here,” Kara instructs, juggling three ice packs in her hands, “this’ll be cold.”

“That’s sort of the point,” Lena points out. 

“I suppose it is.” 

Kara chuckles as she hands Lena one of the ice packs to put on her face. Then she slides the Luthor’s t-shirt back up and steps between her legs. It feels far more intimate than any position they’ve been in before and it makes Lena’s heartbeat in her ears. Kara doesn’t seem to notice the cold of the ice as her thumbs skim across the expanse of porcelain skin laid out before her. 

Lena shivers when she presses each of the icepacks against her side, because of the cold and obviously not how the tips of Kara’s fingers brush the underside of her breast.

Obviously. 

Kara softly smiles down at her and doesn’t make an attempt to move away even though Lena probably could handle holding the other packs by herself. 

They stay in a comfortable silence for a while, just happy to be around each other after a long week of being apart. They haven’t discussed what’s grown between them over the few months of knowing each other, though it’s gone far beyond tutor and student by now. Lena hasn’t necessarily given up on her internal insistence that she can’t have a crush on Kara, but she often finds herself ignoring that voice in favour of leaning that bit closer when they're reading a textbook together or holding on a beat longer than needed when they're hugging. She often finds herself missing the other girl too and looking forward to her early morning texts saying, ‘good morning’ and ‘have a good day’. It’s not unusual for her to be practically drooling at her phone screen when Kara sends a snap of her in a muscle shirt after training either. 

But it’s as though talking about it would mean recognising that that’s what she’s doing, and she think Kara knows that too. Which is probably why neither of them have spoken about it ever. 

It’s easier to just let it go on as it is. 

Eventually Kara gives in to her curiosity and, more predominantly, her concern over the bruising across her abdomen and face. “When did this happen to you?” she asks, her voice smooth and quiet. 

“Monday.”

“Is that why you haven’t been sending me pictures with your face in them?”

“Why? Did you miss me?” Lena teases.

“Maybe,” Kara says, her voice sounds shy but she’s still directly staring Lena in the eye. 

Lena bites her lip at the intensity of her stare. She could move forward so effortlessly and kiss the blonde if she wanted to. _And God does she want to._

“Does it feel better?” Kara asks, even quieter than before. 

“Mhm yeah, much better,” Lena replies, closing her eyes at the relief that the ice is giving her. 

Lena drops her arm that’s holding the icepack to her eye because her face is starting to go numb, but she soon realises her mistake. 

Kara’s eyes widen briefly at the appearance of Lena’s black eye again before stepping away, like she’d forgotten Lena was hurt even with the ice packs against her palms and her hands under the Luthor’s shirt. The condensation from the pack has removed some of the makeup on Lena’s face and now her bruise is even clearer. 

“What actually happened?” Kara asks, moving about the kitchen now to fetch Lena a tea towel for her to dry the condensation away with, “if you don’t mind me asking I mean.” 

Lena doesn't even have to think about it: she knows she can be honest with Kara.

“There’s this girl,” she begins, “Veronica Sinclair. We used to, uhh… we were quite close in the past. But she’s a bad influence, so I stopped hanging out with her. And my brother-.”

“The one who called you last week?”

“Yeah, that one.” 

Kara frowns, and it makes Lena smile. She’s glad Kara agrees with her on that front. “Well, he likes to keep close tabs on me. Sometimes he goes too far with it,” she continues, skipping the part about blackmail and Cadmus because even though she trusts Kara, she knows Kara would freak at all that information, “he told Veronica to watch me; what I did, what I talked about, and who with; and she did. And she’s been telling him things about me that I didn’t want him to know. Secrets that I didn’t want anyone to know.”

Lena catches Kara clenching and unclenching her fists around the tea towel. 

“I found out about it and confronted her… and well, this happened,” Lena gestures towards her black eye and bruised side. 

“Did you fight back?” Kara hesitantly asks. 

Lena looks down at her thighs. “Kara, I’m pretty sure _I'm_ the one who started the fight.” 

“What??”

“I pushed her first.” 

Kara visibly gulps and her pupils grow wide. “To be fair,” she says, “Veronica was sort of asking for it with stalking you.”

Lena chuckles, “yeah, she sort of was.” 

“I know it’s definitely wrong to ask this, but… did you at least win?” 

That makes Lena burst with laughter. “Of course I did,” she only just stops herself from saying ‘ _I am a Luthor_ ’ afterwards. 

“Oh phew,” Kara smiles, “I was wandering whether I’d have to go up there and show that girl what this kryp-quarterback can do.” 

That makes Lena laugh more. The visual she imagines of Kara throwing Veronica over the school gates like a football with her huge biceps is both hilarious and extremely hot. “You could still do that,” Lena claims, “I wouldn’t mind.” 

“Perhaps I will then,” Kara says, joining in with her laughing. 

Once they’ve pulled themselves together, Lena hops off the island and Kara packs away the first aid kit. “Okay come on, I was thinking we could go over redox reactions today,” Lena suggests, “we’re already behind.”

“In that case, we’d better not waste any more time.” Kara grins giddily, her hands reaching for Lena’s sides and lifting her back into a bridal carry to take her up the stairs.

-

After Kara had fully grasped halogen displacement, she drove Lena home in her truck. It hadn’t stopped raining and it was dark outside (not that either bothered Lena, but it was nicer in Kara’s car than in the wind). 

She insisted that Lena took some of their icepacks with her back to school seeing as though she’s not allowed to go to the nurse and get them for herself. Lena’s eye was already feeling so much better just from having them on it for a few minutes earlier, so she doesn’t really put up much of a fight as Kara slips them into the pockets of her coat. 

“See you next week,” Kara says. 

“Same time?” 

“Same time. Text me if that Veronica girl gives you anymore trouble, okay?” Kara says. 

Lena smirks, “okay my Prince Charming. I’ll see you on Wednesday.” 

“Bye,” Kara calls, a grin on her face as Lena slips out into the rain and dashes through the school gate. 

-

When she came through the gates and Kara drove away, there was no Matron waiting to her to escort her back to her dorm room like she’d expected, so Lena made the best of the situation and texted Sam and Jack to meet her.

Turns out they were both behind the gym shed already, although she couldn’t figure out why and they were being very secretive about it as they texted her. 

When she arrived at the shed, she could hear them giggling and got even more suspicious. 

“What are you doing?” she asks as she rounds the corner and they both jumped. 

“Lena!” Jack almost drops his phone on the floor but manages to catch it before it hits the ground. 

“We thought you weren’t allowed out,” Sam says as she hides her own phone in her pocket.

“I’m not,” Lena crosses her arms over her chest, “you didn’t answer my question.”

They both glance at each other, devious grins sneaking onto their faces. 

“Jack here was just telling me about a certain date coming up soon,” Sam begins. 

Lena narrows her eyes at them. 

“You know… the day you turn seventeen,” Jack hints. 

“Yes, I know what date is coming up. What about it?” Lena rushes out. 

She really, really hates her birthday and she would much rather if her friends would stop acting so secretive and just tell her what’s going on. She hates her birthday and she hates surprises; and this is both. 

“You know how, in the past, you’re birthday has always fallen during spring break?” Jack asks.

How could Lena forget that? She has scars that make it hard to forget.

“So?” she says, loosing her patience. Like she said, she really doesn’t like her birthday. At. All. She doesn’t want to have to think about it anymore. 

“And how this year it falls on a Friday instead?” Sam continues. 

“Can you stop with this guessing game and just tell me what it is you’re planning??” 

“Okay, okay,” Jack giggles. 

“It’s a house party in Midvale next weekend,” Sam confesses, “except obviously not one that we’re throwing because we don’t have a house in Midvale.” 

“Yet,” Jack winks at Sam. 

“The invitation is open and basically everyone our age in a ten-mile radius is going,” Sam finishes. 

“So what? You want us to go?” Lena asks. 

“Yes, exactly.” 

“It can be the best birthday ever. I’ll bring the vodka,” Jack grins. 

“Jack, none of us are drinking at the moment, remember?” Lena points out, “and besides, I don’t want to party on my birthday. It’s… not a fun day for me.” 

She remembers last year when everyone else was away on spring break (even Jack) and she had to cope with the vivid memories of being at the Luthor Manor with just Lillian on what her mother deemed the day that ‘ruined the Luthor family’ and also ‘her entire life’ alone. Let's just say, it wasn’t the sort of birthday party most rich kids get on their sixteenth. 

“We know that Lena, and that’s why I think it’d be good to create some good memories to make it a fun day for you,” Jack says. 

“I don’t think that will work,” she argues. 

“If you can’t do it for yourself, then do it for me and Jack,” Sam says, “spring break will probably be the last time I can spend with my family before I’m unable to hide the baby and for you guys to relax before the sprint towards you’re finals and MIT. Next Friday can be our celebration before all that.”

Lena sighs: Sam knows exactly how to play her cards when it comes to Lena. 

“It doesn’t have to be for your birthday, although you should expect presents,” Sam knows she’s won the argument, but persists anyway, “it’s just a party that also happens to be on your birthday.” 

Lena’s never been a huge fan of parties, the Luthor gala’s always put her off being around too many intoxicated people at once. She mostly grew out of that during her time with Veronica, where they spent the majority of their time in raves or clubs. But from her experience big house parties are different to night clubs, there’s nobody enforcing any rules and the booze is free; people are left to get drunk beyond consciousness and do things they shouldn't be. 

Lena usually prefers to get drunk without a crowd, but this is a Midvale party and not some huge Metropolis party. Even if the crowd is large, she’ll still be an anonymous teenager celebrating being young and free with her friends just like everyone else there. And Sam’s got a point, once spring break is over, they’ll have to put their heads down and work hard. 

They’ll have to get the prosthetic finished, finish their AP courses, take their finals, and apply to MIT, as well as helping out with Sam’s pregnancy, and then an _actual baby_. 

And there’s always Lex’s deal. 

She needs to make a decision about that soon too. 

“Okay,” Lena says, “party next Friday it is then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter features Lillian and a little development with Kara.  
> I might start another high school AU fic at some point so whenever that happens I'll let you know


	10. Bah Humbug

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trio property search in Midvale and bump into just about everyone.  
> Lena gets an exhausting text message.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know last chapter I said Lillian would be featured but who cares? Here's more Kara instead.

Lena’s made up her mind about Project Cadmus. 

She’s not going to write the code. But she’s not not going to write the code either. 

It’s a compromise of sorts.

The code needs to have a detonation sequence in it, Lex is smart enough to tell what one looks like. But, he doesn’t know enough about computer science to know what each part of the coded sequence does. Luckily for her, it means she can write some detonation code, but it won’t be for setting off a series of bombs planted within alien refuge centres. It’ll be for setting off an alert in the Metropolis Police Department warning them about the threat. Lex will think one of his goons have snitched on him and hopefully not suspect Lena because she's not stupid enough to risk everything to save a few aliens, and the bombs won’t go off. It’s definitely risky and it takes her many sleepless nights to decide on, but she knows that her personal loss outweighs the cost of hundreds, if not thousands of lives that her brother is threatening. 

So that’s the plan. She’ll write the code and she’ll be risking her life by doing it. 

Lena doesn’t tell Sam or Jack, though she can tell they suspect something’s going on that she’s not telling them about. 

It’s only been three days and Lena’s already gotten rings under her eyes from sleep loss. Lex hasn’t texted her about it again yet, but she knows he’ll be expecting it soon. She can’t let him know she’s been debating whether to do it or not, it needs to seem like she’s been on board since the beginning, since he threatened her best-friend and said best-friend's baby, therefore Lena needs to make up the time that she’s spent mulling it over by writing out code in all her spare time between lessons and eating. That means less time spent on the prosthetic, tutoring Jack, and helping Sam get through baby book after baby book, and more time spent hiding out in the school bathrooms (the one place in the school where nobody can spy on her) with her eyes trained on a laptop screen and notes piled up on the sink. 

Her sleepless nights might have something to do with how her mother hasn’t called her about her fight with Veronica either. If she slept it’d just be stress nightmares, but it doesn’t matter because she can’t relax enough to fall asleep anyway. 

By Saturday, she’s so exhausted it feels like she might pass out from it. 

She’s had less than twelve hours of sleep in the past week.

But she made Sam a promise and she doesn’t want to miss her best friend’s property search. Besides, maybe it’ll help take her mind off of the whole Cadmus thing. 

Lena dresses in her school clothes with a Space Camp sweater on top and her pea-coat over it. She joins Sam and Jack outside the girls wing so they can walk to the gates together. Fortunately, they aren’t dressed much more casually than she is: Jack wears his usual smart, school clothes except with a short-sleeved top under his blazer instead of a shirt; and Sam wears her usual school clothes too except rather than a school shirt, she’s dressed in a flannel over her brothers baggy NCU t-shirt. 

They walk together towards the school gates and soon arrive at the administrative building. They each hand over $40 to the receptionist as well as their forged parents notes granting them leave for two days. The receptionist opens the gate and lets them pass without do much as a second glance. 

“Alright. Lena, you know this area better than either of us. How’d we get into town?” Jack asks. 

She rolls her eyes at her friend “Jack. Midvale has like ten people in it. There isn’t a ‘town’ to go to.”

Jack huffs and digs his hands into his pockets. “Where are we supposed to start then?” he grumbles. 

“I have a list,” Sam says, pulling out the folded paper, “I called a small-time realtor the other day to show us around some places. He knows what he’s doing.” 

“Where is this guy then?” Jack asks. 

“He said that he’s by a coffee shop called ‘dream tea’,” Sam replies. 

“I know where that is, it’s on the main street.” Lena hooks her arms into both of her friend’s and they set off down the hill into Midvale. 

-

The man they meet is dressed in jeans and a hoodie and he scans his eyes over them, and his brows knit together at the sight of them. “I thought you were older than this,” he says first. 

“That won’t be a problem, with any money or anything, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Sam ensures. 

“No it’s not that,” he waves his arms in front of him for emphasis, “I was just a little surprised is all. You sound older than you look, I guess.” 

“That’s probably what Mark said,” Jack whispers so only Lena can hear it.

She snorts a laugh that she tries to smother with a cough, making Jack have to hide his smile by looking at the floor. Sam sends a stern stare in their direction. 

“Right, well, I have a few suggestions of places we can visit. How about I explain them to you on the way over to the first property?” he offers. 

They each nod and follow him down the road and away from the shops. 

The first apartment they look at is on the outskirts of the town, beside the road that leads to the beach, and it’s shared with around six other people at a time. Sam is put off the place after hearing that. How would six people react to a baby crying at all hours of the night, let alone during the day? But they look around it anyway, just to see what it’s like. 

It has four large bedrooms, five bathrooms (four being en-suite’s), two communal living-room spaces, and a communal kitchen. It is on the lower rungs of their price range and Jack hates the space as soon as he realises that his Godchild won’t have their own room if Sam decided to live here. Lena spends the rest of the time that they look around the apartment explaining to Jack that the child would most likely be staying in Sam’s room anyway and that her and the baby would only be staying here for a few months whilst she and Jack finished their time at Mount Helena. He still refuses to let Sam even talk to the owner at the end of the tour, not that she wants to in any case. It’s a not a bad place, but there are still a few things that she spots that can’t be up to building regulations. With the amount of money she’s saved up and thanks to her friends, Sam can afford to do better.

They quickly move on to the next property. This one isn’t communal, but there are still nine other people living in the small building. The people are all training to become a part of the coastguard by the time summer begins, and together they make up about half of the entire young-adult population of Midvale alone. Only one of the people currently staying in the building is over twenty-one and he is too high to actually get any sort of cognitive judgment from when they bump into him in the hallway, so Sam is already put off living there with her new-born before they even go anywhere near where the empty apartment is. But Lukas appears to know the guys, and he seems like a charismatic, well-put-together man, so maybe it was a one-off occurrence. 

The apartment itself isn’t too bad once they get inside. It has one bedroom, a bathroom, and a kitchen/sitting room area. It’s small but has a modern finish, with ‘big windows and white walls, that give it a spacious feel’ as Lukas tells them. Lena likes it, and Sam agrees that it’s nice. That is until Jack says he likes it, which happens to be right after loud music from downstairs starts up, and the floor they’re all stood on starts to vibrate. Sam sighs as Lukas laughs and says, “classic Joel, it’s not even mid-day yet.”

Sam can’t imagine a baby being able to sleep with the racket, much less herself, so they swiftly move on to the next place. Jack is only mildly disappointed with that. 

The next few places are actually lodgings in suburban homes rather than apartments. A few of the homes have empty garages that are well-kitted out to be a spare room, some have newly done up attics, others have spare bedrooms that their teenaged children have moved out of. In all of them, they find the room either too small to fit both Sam and a baby’s cot or that the family living there weren’t expecting a baby to be staying with them and aren’t very happy with the idea when they find out. 

By the end, Lena is starting to get annoyed at Lukas. Surely, he should have called ahead to have these problems resolved or taken them off the list. Sam was starting to settle for things that are going to make her life much harder; like bathroom schedules and sofa beds, both wouldn’t do for a pregnant woman or her baby once it’d been born. 

But then Lukas leads them onto a road that Lena instantly recognises. It’s where Kara lives. She can see the blonde’s house from where they are, with its blue wood panels and slate roof. She averts her eyes and turns back to Lukas who’s talking about how good this area is and how friendly all the people on this side of Midvale are. And then she recognises the sound of gravel beneath her feet and her neck whips up and-

_Why are they walking up The Danvers’ drive right now?_

A ball of dread wedges itself in Lena’s throat and she has to force her legs to keep going. 

She doesn’t know whys she has such a strong reaction; she didn’t even feel this fearful when she was going to the hospital to visit her father on his death bed. At that time she only felt acceptance, but right now, it feels more like the world is coming down on her than at any other point in her life. Which makes no sense really, it’s just the Danvers house. They might not even see the family at all when they’re inside. Yet, as she tries to swallow past the lump, it feels as though she’s choking. 

Maybe it’s because she’s Lena Luthor at Mount Helena. Even with Jack and Sam she’s Lena Luthor, even if it is unintentional- it’s just how it is. But with Kara, and Kara’s family whenever she bumps into them, she’s just Lena. There’s no history, no prejudice, no expectations beyond getting Kara the grades she needs to pass Chemistry. But, as Lena Luthor, she has her last name. And that name carries more baggage with it and weighs heavily on her shoulders, more so than a bag full of textbooks and a laptop. There’s history, and prejudice and so, so many expectations. Everyone has expectations for how they think a Luthor will be, especially an adopted one. And now both those things will collide. The Danvers- Kara… 

Kara will see her as Lena Luthor, just like everyone else. 

That thought alone is enough to make her tremble. 

Lukas rings the doorbell and she hears footsteps approaching the door. Lena keeps her head down and eyes trained on the tips of her boots when she hears it being opened and Eliza’s voice saying, “hello! Come on in, you must be here to look at our summerhouse.”

She spares a tiny glance up, and see’s the Eliza’s eyes are on her as she climbs the front steps of the porch and makes the familiar journey into their house, thankfully Eliza doesn’t do anything to show that she recognises Lena beyond the confused look she sends her way.

Then Alex comes bounding down the stairs followed by a short girl that Lena realises she’s also met before (at Midvale High that one time). She’s pretty sure her name was Margret or something. Alex passes them and walks into the kitchen, without sparing a glance their way, but Martha (?) spots her amongst the group. She whispers something to Alex, and Alex freezes in pouring herself a glass of orange juice and quickly glances over her shoulder, directly at Lena. Her heart thuds loud in her chest as she prays to any God that they don’t say anything. Just having them see her like this, off guard and unprepared, is enough. 

Sam’s too busy listening to whatever it is Lukas and Eliza are talking about to notice the little situation, but not Jack. He leans over and whispers, “do you think they know who you are?” 

She hopes they don’t, not in the way everyone outside of Midvale seems to think they do. 

Lena doesn’t get to reply, because Alex and Mary(?) have come to stand in front of her and Jack now. Alex says, quiet enough not to disturb Lukas, Eliza and Sam’s conversation, “not to be rude or anything, but what are you doing here Lena?” 

Despite saying that, it does come across as rude, but Lena thinks that was Alex’s intention anyway if the annoyed frown she wears is anything to go by. She doesn’t know what she’s done to annoy Alex, Lena’s probably only spoken to her once. But perhaps Alex does know who she is, what her last name is, and has judged her by her controversial family history and all the Luthor’s stand for. 

Jack’s mouth falls open. “Wait, what? You know her?” he gawks at Lena. 

Lena nods her head but doesn’t take her gaze off of Alex. “I’m accompanying a friend,” Lena answers her indifferently, “she’s looking at apartments in Midvale.” 

“Really? How come?” Alex jokes, but not to be funny, “running out of dormitories or something?” 

“I don’t think that’s something you really need to know about,” Lena replies. 

Alex hovers from one foot to another for a second, suddenly unsure of what to say in response to that. Maureen (?) luckily steps up and offers her hand out. “I don’t think we’ve been formally introduced,” she says with a charming, easy-going smile, “I’m Maggie.” 

Lena and Jack both shake her hand, telling her their names in return. “This here is Alex,” Maggie says, mostly for Jack’s benefit, “she and I are undefeated relay race partners at Midvale High.” 

Not just relay race partners, Lena thinks when she catches a glimpse of some fresh hickies around Alex’s collarbones. It makes Lena snort with laughter (she really does try to smother it) and Jack seems to pick up on the marks too and does the same; Alex huffs and walks back to get her glass of water. “Sorry about her,” Maggie murmurs, “she’s just fed up with hearing about you all the time from Kara.” 

That stops Lena from laughing. She’s glad she doesn’t blush easily, otherwise she knows she’d be bright red right now. She glances at Jack to see a shit-eating grin on his face. 

“Kara, huh?” he says to Maggie, “is she a friend of yours?” 

Maggie chuckles, “sort of. She’s Alex’s sister, so we see a lot of each other.” 

Jack could not get more excited. He knows Kara and her constantly text and that Lena isn’t even that committed to her homework so he and Sam tease her about it non-stop. Lena thinks he might start jumping off the ground in eagerness to talk about Kara. If Lukas hadn’t turned to the group right then and told them to follow him into the garden, perhaps he actually would have. His teasing helps ease the nerves swimming through her body at least. 

She’s just thankful Kara’s not around for Jack to have an actual meltdown over.

-

What Eliza called a ‘Summerhouse’ is basically a second much smaller house at the end of their garden. Sam is already really impressed since Eliza said she’s more than welcome to have her baby stay with them when it’s born, but it’s the place being at the end of their long garden which basically sells it to her. It means she won’t have to disturb the Danvers family, and they can basically forget she exists. 

On the outside it’s decorated pretty similarly to the Danvers’ actual house, with its wooden shutters and blue-paint theme. Inside, it’s decidedly less homely. The floor is made from concrete and the light is a bright white, which Lena can easily fix if Sam doesn’t like it. There’s a folded-up ping-pong table against one of the walls too, but that’s the only sign that this isn’t a normal house, rather than a ‘summerhouse’. 

They all go inside and are greeted with a living room/kitchen. It’s modern and small (perfect for one person to live in without getting lonely) and all the things inside it look brand new, as though they’d only been bought last week. The place has the smell of a department store too, so that’s most likely the case. Next, they go up a set of steep stairs (considerately it has a handrail) to see what’s upstairs. There’s three rooms upstairs: a bedroom, a bathroom, and another small room filled with garden furniture. Each room is mostly just white, and contain all the basics (bed, wardrobe; toilet, bath, sink), but what more could someone need? Lukas explains that the spare room could be a second bedroom in the future because the Danvers can put all the pots and camp chairs into their garage. 

Lena is very impressed, to say the least. 

Sam is rather happy with the place too, and Jack doesn’t say anything bad about it- which, for him, means it’s perfect. And it is. 

Lukas leaves them for a bit to look around on their own whilst he goes to talk with Eliza and Jeremiah about prices and bills and other important house owning things. Sam stays upstairs and Jack and Lena give her some space by staying downstairs. Jack’s looking through the cupboards of the kitchen, exhaling as he repeatedly finds them empty, meanwhile Lena tries to figure out how to get the T.V working. She can’t remember the last time she used one, she never goes in the common room and that’s the only place students have access to a T.V in Mount Helena. It’ll be interesting to see if she can do it. 

As she’s plugging in the last cable Jack laughs across the room. “Aw, Lena, is this your girlfriend?” he teases. 

Lena’s head whips round to where he’s stood. He’s looking at the only photo on the fridge, a strange contrast to the Danvers’ fridge in their house that’s overflowing with photographs. 

“ _Girlfriend?_ ” Sam exclaims, emerging from the bottom of the stairs. 

“Yeah, it’s the girl she’s tutoring- Kara Danvers. She lives here,” Jack says, that smug grin on his face as he says it. 

“What? How’d you know that?” Sam questions. 

Lena gets up and joins them in the kitchen, it’s tight with all three (four?) of them in there. 

“We met her sister, Alex. She said hello to Lena,” Jack says, mischievously, “apparently, Kara talks about Lena. A. Lot.” 

“No way,” Sam grins too, but for a completely different reason, “if that’s true, then you’d be able to visit me on more than just the weekends if I stayed here. You could come on Wednesdays too.” 

Lena smiles at her friend because that’s true. If this is where Sam choosing to live, she could see her friend multiple times a week. It’d be good for both of them. Just talking to Jack for a week would probably make her go insane. 

Jack pokes at the picture on the fridge again, “why wouldn’t they have this photo in their actual house?” 

“Because they have thousands more exactly like it on their own fridge,” Lena explains, finally taking a look at the photo. 

It’s the only one she thinks she’s seen that has them all in it: Kara, Alex, Jeremiah, and Eliza too. They’re each dressed in Christmas jumpers, Kara’s is bright red with Rudolf on it, Alex’s is black with the simple words ‘Bah Humbug’ on it, and they’re stood in front of their fireplace all cosied up to one another and a liberally decorated Christmas tree is standing beside them. Kara isn’t smiling with her teeth on show like any of the other photos either, instead she looks almost awkward in Jeremiahs partial hug. Lena supposes this must have been when she was first adopted. 

“Oh boy,” Jack chuckles, “you have it bad.” 

Lena realises she’s been staring at the image a little bit too intently to be passed off as regular curiosity and straightens up again. “Shut up Jack,” she shoots back. 

The reaction makes him and Sam both laugh. 

“So, are you thinking this might be the one you stay at?” Lena turns the conversation away from her or Kara. 

“It’s basically perfect,” Sam shrugs, “I doubt I’m going to get a better deal than this place. And the woman lowered the price when I told her about being pregnant.” 

“Wow. I bet they’re Christian too,” Jack sighs, collapsing into the couch. 

Lena laughs, “they probably are. We already know they celebrate Christmas.” 

“Gheez, have you guys really lost faith in humanity that much? There are still people out there who’re good just for the sake of it, you know?” Sam joins them on the couch. “Not every good person needs hell as a motivator.”

“No, I’m pretty sure they do,” Lena replies. 

They all laugh at that. 

-

When they leave the ‘summerhouse’, it’s starts pouring down with rain and the air is cold with harsh wind. The streets of Midvale have cleared, and they rush to find a place where they can make arrangements to meet with Lukas tomorrow. He guides them back onto the, now deserted, main road and they follow him with their hoods draped across their faces and coats pulled up to their chins.

“This place is good enough, let’s go inside,” he says, motioning to a coffee shop behind him. 

They all nod and let him lead them through the door. 

They are each hit with the smell of deadly amounts of sugar and, more strongly, coffee. Sam takes a deep breath as soon as they step inside and Jack laughs at her reaction. She hasn’t had coffee in almost three months now. 

Lukas takes them into a corner where they each sit on wobbly, wooden chairs. Lena and Jack have been here once before for a poetry reading when Jack was crushing on one of the barista’s. The barista is long gone now, and Jack has moved on easily enough- he has the football coach to distract him now. It’s a cosy space, probably one used a lot by locals: there are lots of flyers on the wall for yoga classes, weekly movie nights, and for the Midvale Book Club which all take place here. 

When Lukas goes up to order their drinks (black coffee for Lena, a smoothie for Jack, and lemon water for Sam) Jack starts to flip through the folders that detail each apartment and the surrounding areas they’ve looked at are like. Lena quickly loses interest once Jack’s attention turns from the Midvale Tennis Club, to how he should ask Lukas for his friends number. She glances around at the cute little shop and the photos on the walls showing what Midvale looked like when the place first opened. Then a group of teenagers sitting across the shop from them catches her eye. Immediately her gaze lands on non-other than Kara Danvers herself, who is staring right back at Lena. 

Lena almost jumps at the sight of the other girl, who is sat amongst three boys who all have their backs to Lena’s table. Kara looks as though she’s in the same boat: her eyes are wide and the glass of milkshake she’s holding has frozen halfway in its journey up to her mouth. Then Lena’s eyes quickly dart away, and she pretends to be a part of whatever it is Sam is saying about Jack being a slut. 

She tries to calm her racing heart. Of course Kara is here. Why wouldn’t she be? This is like the only indoor hang out spot in the whole town, and it’s raining. Still though, seeing Kara in her yellow and blue windbreaker with her hair messily tied up and looking so authentic does something to the part of Lena’s brain that seems to be permanently reserved for Kara and is directly connected to her clit.

She cannot look back over there for the sake of her sanity. 

Lena cannot let her friends know that the herculean girl sat in the corner across the room is the girl she tutors otherwise she’d never hear the end of it and that’s the last thing she needs right now. Especially considering they were just at the Danvers house and she was accused of being girlfriends with her already. If Sam or Jack saw that Kara Danvers was basically the definition of a beefcake, they would never, _EVER_ let it go. 

She tries to behave naturally, but she can feel Kara’s eyes boring into her side and Lena desperately wants to look back over at the girl despite her brain telling her what an awful idea that is. 

Luckily, Lukas carries their drinks over at that moment, so Lena can distract herself with sipping on the strong coffee and trying to pay attention to Lukas going over costs and timelines instead of those blue eyes and pretty pink lips. 

But she tries a little too hard, because within the half hour it takes the rain to turn to drizzle, she’s already drank her whole cup and now she needs to pee. 

Lena gets up, careful not to look in Kara’s direction, and slips towards the back of the shop where the bathrooms are. She gives herself five minutes in the privacy the room lends her. It should be enough time to take a deep breath and internally laugh at herself. This is ridiculous. It’s just the girl she’s tutoring, why would anyone see it as anything different? 

Because it is different, he traitor brain whispers to her.

She blocks that thought off before she can think too much on it and tells herself to get over herself. It’s just Kara. They’re just normal, regular friends.

But just as she’s leaving the restroom, she hits into what feels like a brick wall and then she’s pulled back into the tiny room. 

“What-,” she begins, before she picks up the scent of vanilla saturating the person’s clothes that tells her it’s Kara. Lena can’t help but keep herself pressed close for a moment longer so that she can fill her lungs with the lovely smell. 

“Lena,” Kara says, her voice sounds strained and Lena steps back so that she’s against the radiator. 

The closeness of her solid, warm body makes Lena feel a little woozy with the arousal that’s been building since she saw Kara and she thinks Kara see’s it because she steps back too. “Hello,” Lena says. She casts her eyes down at the floor because she knows that if she even glances up at Kara’s face she’d look straight at the girl’s lips and that, coupled with the tight space and their mingling scents in the air, would make her unaccountable for her actions. Maybe also because she has terrible eye bags right now and she doesn’t want Kara worrying about her.

“Lena, Alex said that you- you were at mine. What- why were you-,” Kara stutters out, sounding a bit out of breath. 

“I went with my friend to look at your summerhouse. She thinks she might live there in the future,” Lena explains. 

Kara’s quiet for a moment. “Oh,” is all she says. 

“Yeah.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about it?” Kara asks, waving her hands around in front of her “not that you need to tell me everything about your life or anything, but I don’t know. I would just… I’d like to have known. So that I could’ve seen you. I guess it doesn’t matter because we’re seeing each other right now. But-.” 

Lena cuts off her endearing rambling, “I didn’t know we were going to be there. I would’ve texted you, I would of liked to see you too.” 

Kara makes a relieved sound and Lena can picture her happy little smile. She almost chances a look up at her to see it, and then Kara speaks again. “Are you okay Lena?” 

Lena has to look up then. Her breath gets stuck in her throat when she does, and she immediately knows it’s a mistake. Kara’s stood leaning against the sink with her feet casually crossed in front of her, thick rimmed glasses perched on her nose, her blue eyes looking at her with worry, and her jacket from before is missing so the brunette can see Kara’s t-shirt sleeves straining around her biceps. She gulps. 

“Lena?” 

“Mmh?” Lena says, still staring at how she can nearly see Kara’s abs through the tight-fitting shirt that’s tucked into her jeans. 

“Are you okay?” Kara repeats softly. 

“Oh,” Lena finally stops ogling her friend and takes in what she’s saying, “erm, yeah. What makes you ask?” 

Kara blushes then and she shrinks back against the sink, as though she’d been the one staring and not Lena, “you, uh, you were acting strange earlier- when we saw each other.”

“It was a surprise is all,” Lena says. 

“Yeah,” Kara chuckles, “it was a surprise for me too. But it’s more than that,” she clears her throat, “do you- do you not want your school friends to meet me?” 

It’s said so quiet that Lena nearly misses what she says. The uncertainty and vulnerability behind it makes Lena’s heart ache for the girl and she wants to step forward and kiss her until that thought is wiped from her mind. 

But she doesn’t do that. 

“No, no. God, no Kara. That’s not it at all,” Lena rushes out. 

“What is it then?” Kara asks, still hesitant, “I don’t understand.” 

What’s she supposed to say? I can’t look at you because if I did, I’d be unable to stop myself from tearing your clothes off. I can’t look at you because if I did, our friendship would be risked because nobody turns me on like you do. Obviously, neither of those are viable options. 

Lena just stands there, her mouth forming words, but no sounds coming out. Her damned genius brain can’t think of a single lie to make up or any way to twist the truth enough to hide it. 

And Kara’s shoulders only fall further, assuming that she was right, and Lena just didn’t want to hurt her feelings. “Your eye looks better,” she murmurs, pushing herself off the sink and towards the door. 

But Lena steps in front, blocking the handle, leaving them pressed up against each other. “Kara, please,” she says, very slowly whilst staring intently at Kara’s collar bone, “I couldn’t look at you because you overwhelm me. Because you’re… sort of beautiful if you haven't noticed.” 

Kara doesn’t move from where she’s looking down at Lena. “So you’re not embarrassed of being friends with me? You do want your friends to meet me?” she asks, with all the innocence and adorability she can afford as a sixteen year old- which, for Kara, is quite a lot. 

Lena breathily laughs, and her head falls on Kara’s shoulder, her hair brushing Kara’s jaw. “No Kara, I’m not embarrassed of you and yes, I want my friends to meet you. Although if my friends did meet you, they would tease me endlessly. So maybe we can hold off on that.” 

“What? They’d tease you?” Kara questions, one of her hands comes up to idly play with the wisps of Lena’s hair, “how come?” 

Lena laughs again, this time in disbelief, “Kara. I don’t know if you’ve seen yourself lately, but you’re kinda a very hot jock and give off… lesbian… vibes? Jack would have a field day of he knew what you look like.” 

“A very hot jock? Lesbian vibes?” Kara laughs, “erm, thank you?”

“You’re welcome,” Lena replies. 

They’re silent for a moment. Something that Lena is grateful for because it gives her a moment to think back over what she’s just said. It’s not like Kara’s reaction gives her a reason to regret telling her about her attraction, but also no reason to be glad she did. Maybe that’s an ideal outcome, still Lena can’t help but feel a sense of disappointment. 

“I’m sorry that I overwhelm you,” Kara whispers after some time. 

Lena turns to stare up at her, blue meeting green. “Don’t be sorry. It’s not a bad overwhelm,” Lena tells her, “it’s good. You,” Lena waves her arms in front of her body, “wearing that. Yeah, definitely good. I just didn’t want my friends to know that… that I like it is all. You’ve done nothing wrong. I swear it.”

“Oh,” some of Kara’s cocky confidence seeps into her voice then and her posture straightens up, “you like this?” She pulls her sleeve back and flexes her bicep and Lena has to abruptly shut her eyes to block it from her view like it’s something she’s not supposed to see. 

And sure, maybe Kara’s whole intention is for her to see it. But the display of confidence that comes with the action though, is most certainly not supposed to turn her on and is exactly what Lillian warned her would send her to hell. 

She’s chastising herself for wanting to see it and for this whole situation to be honest. 

Kara chuckles and lets her arm fall by her side. “Relax. I won’t do it again. I don’t want to overwhelm you,” she teases.

Lena rolls her eyes at the girl, and Kara laughs harder. 

Then the door comes flying open, causing Lena to jump away and pretend to be inspecting a bit of imaginary dirt on her sleeve. Kara jumps at how fast she moves. 

“Lena,” Sam says, a sly smirk on her face, her eyes flit from the girl in question to where Kara’s standing and then back again, “I was wondering what was taking you so long. We’re leaving now. It’s stopped raining.” 

“Hi,” Kara says, she holds out her hand for Sam to shake without a hint of embarrassment towards what it is Sam’s insinuating, “Kara Danvers.” 

Sam’s eyes widen at the name. She takes Kara’s hand to shake. “Lena tutors me for chemistry,” Kara explains.

“Yeah,” Sam’s smirk only grows once she regains her footing after the shock, “I know about you. I’ve managed to get a few things out of Lena over the months.” 

“Oh?” Kara smiles, “good things I hope.” 

“Mm. Definitely good things.” Sam gives Kara a once over – which Lena thinks is a little bit funny because that’s exactly what Alex did when they first met. 

Kara glances sideways at Lena, who’s just stood frozen. She wants to say ‘it’s not what it looks like’ or ‘let me just get my coat’ or literally anything to stop this situation from going on any longer, but she there’s a part of her that also wants to see how this plays out. 

“I’m Sam, by the way” her friend says. 

“It’s nice to meet you Sam,” Kara says, “I’m guessing you’re the friend who might be staying in our summerhouse.” 

“That’s me. You have a very nice place; your parents are very kind” Sam says. 

Kara chuckles, “yeah, Eliza and Jeremiah are good. I guess they have a thing for charity cases.” 

Sam laughs too, “luckily for me.” 

“For me too,” Kara agrees. 

Lena’s heart warms at the interaction. She doesn’t think she’s ever seen two people who don’t know each other, or have any reason to be nice to one another, act so civilly before. And it being between two people who have come to mean a lot to her, it’s especially perfect. 

“Come on then Lena. We better get going before the rain starts again,” Sam says, offering Lena her arm. 

Lena links her arm with her friend and casts one last look at Kara. “See you Wednesday?” 

“See you then. Nice to meet you as well Sam,” Kara says, giving them a little wave as they leave the bathroom.

“You too Kara,” Sam calls back. 

“What took you so long?” Jack groans out when they reach their table, all but throwing Lena’s coat at her as he walks to the door. 

Lukas is already gone, so it’s just the three of them leaving. 

The boys sitting at Kara’s table all turn to look at them as they leave, and Lena recognises one of them to be James- Kara’s football friend she met at Midvale High. 

“Lena! Hey,” James says, giving a big wave their way.

Jack looks a little bit stunned by the boy and he almost trips over his feet as he pulls the shop door open. “Hey James,” Lena says, giving a tiny wave back, picking up the pace a little. 

The last thing she needs is a conversation with James, the boy Veronica’s being unsatisfied by, and to watch Jack basically drooling over him. What is it with Jack and football players at the moment? Not like she’s one to talk though. 

-

They’ve booked a hotel for the night. Mainly so that they don’t have to go back to Mount Helena and deal with everyone that sets their nerves alight for at least one night. But also because Sam has an early morning scan tomorrow, that it’d be simpler for if they were staying just across the street from the clinic. Luckily for the trio, Midvale is a tourist town, so they have plenty of hotels to choose from. Lena decides on one without a bar. Tomorrow will be much easier for everyone if Jack wasn’t hungover. 

So that’s where they go. 

Halfway there, Lena gets a text from Kara saying, ‘it was nice 2 c u 2day’. Lena texts back that it was nice to see her too. Then Kara texts ‘I wanna talk about what u said 2day, just didnt feel right 2 do it in the shop restroom’. Lena’s stomach sinks as she reads it, but she sends back ‘sure. Wednesday then’. ‘Wednesday :),’ is all she gets in response. 

Much later, past midnight, she gets another text. She checks her phone, thinking it’s Kara again, maybe sending her a puppy meme or some weird late-night questions. Last time it was ‘do u think cereal is soup?’. (They’d come to the conclusion that, no, cereal isn’t soup and, in fact, has it’s own category within dishes served in a bowl). But this message isn’t from KD, it’s from an unknown phone number instead. 

It says, ‘code by next Monday or I will stop keeping mother from visiting you’. 

‘And no more fighting’, comes a little bit afterwards. 

These texts only used to deepen the fondness she had for her brother, but now it’s making her feel slightly sick. 

Lena had been wondering why Lillian hadn’t come to punish her yet. She’d almost broken Veronica’s nose after all. But she supposes, if anyone is capable of persuading her mother not to do something, it’s Lex. It’s a shame that it’s only so that Lena can concentrate on the code rather than because he cares for her. 

This new deadline will make everything about this week difficult for her. Less time means more room for mistakes. And she really, really can’t afford to make any mistakes. 

Lena doesn’t dwell on it too much, because as soon as her head hits the pillow, she’s fast asleep. The week’s exhaustion finally catching up to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to rubyrox24 for suggesting Sam live with the Danvers. :D


	11. Dancing Queen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena's life is sort of spiralling, but at least she has Kara to keep her grounded ;)

After Sam’s scan, they spend all of Sunday looking around at the rest of the apartments in Midvale with Lukas, but in the end, nothing tops the Danvers summerhouse. Sam tells Lukas that it’s the one she wants, and he promises to do the rest. 

Hopefully by the start of next quarter Sam will be able to move in and finish all her schooling online. All she needs to do is talk to the headmaster about it and maybe get a lawyer to avoid her parents finding out about the pregnancy. 

So, you know, nothing too difficult. 

Fortunately for Sam, she has two prodigy best friends who can work this stuff out for her whilst she can focus her worrying on raising a baby and not fucking it up during its stay in her womb. 

Lena has been doing lots of heavy reading in order to help with that, meanwhile Jack has been talking to his parents (the only adults they know they can trust) about hiring a lawyer. Sam is eighteen, so she’s officially not under her parents rules. Meaning, there’s nothing that can force her to stay at Mount Helena, even though she will be- in a remote, online way, and she doesn’t have to ‘pursue emancipation’ of her parents either (not that she even wants to) in order to keep them out of her business. Her parents can’t know about the baby, but she doesn’t want to cut off ties with them completely for the future. Maybe once it’s older, she’ll talk to them again, but right now Sam knows it’s safer for the two of them to not to involve her parents. Sure their pro-life stance means she’d be made to carry it anyway, but after it’s born there’s no way of telling what they’d do.

And, in order to keep it safe, it means she’ll have to make sure they don’t find out about it- and if they do, it means stopping them from getting involved. So, yeah. Hiring a lawyer is probably for the best.

-

On Monday, they’re back in school, facing the piles of homework they didn’t do over the weekend and going to their first class of the day. 

A class that she shares with Veronica. 

Veronica hasn’t spoken to Lena since their fight, which Lena supposes she should be thankful for considering the girl's tendency to do the complete opposite of that usually. But that doesn’t mean her stares have stopped. Because they _definitely_ have not. 

Lena is sat trying to focus on which nucleotide polymers code for a certain protein in the plant’s DNA that they’re studying, all the while, three desks in front of hers, Veronica is throwing death stares in her direction every few minutes. Lena has gotten really good at ignoring them at this point, so she gets on with her work. Jack, who’s sat next to her, isn’t fairing quite as well. 

Each time Veronica looks over he shifts uncomfortably in his chair and keeps glancing at Lena too, probably to check if she’s noticed what the girl is doing. 

“ _Jack_ ,” she hisses after the fourth time, “stop it. I can’t work with you fidgeting so much.” 

“I’m sorry, it’s just, Veronica keeps looking at you.” 

“Really? I hadn’t noticed,” she sarcastically replies. 

“I’m being serious Lena. She’s got murder in her… very bruised… painful looking eyes.”

“I’m being serious too Jack. I _seriously_ do not care.”

“You should. It looks like she’s going to come over here and give you another black eye.” 

“Jack,” Lena scolds, “stop. She’s not going to do that. Her ego’s been damaged enough already. Now can we please get back to biology?” 

Jack huffs, “she’s not just going to let you win Lena. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” 

Lena ignores him and finishes off some of their practice questions. 

She knows he has a point. Veronica has never been one to give up easily. It took her over two months to coerce Lena into finally admitting she isn’t completely straight, and she only did because she didn’t have full control over the things she was saying at the time. But Veronica never gave up on getting her to say it that entire time. And losing a fight, as well as being humiliated with bruises because of it… yeah, Veronica won’t be letting that go any time soon. 

But Lena doesn’t have the mental capacity to deal with that right now. 

-

Through Monday to Wednesday, Lena manages to eat exactly five square meals, get eight hours of sleep over the two nights, and read another parenting book- one about tips on early-day issues, as well as starting on her MIT applications. Her application is already late, but she could probably send it in on the day before the first semester starts and she’d still get in. That’s just how it is when your family is funding the construction of new research facilities on campus. 

Lena has been reading the baby/parenting books religiously. Highlighting and making notes on particularly important or helpful sections, relaying what she thinks Sam needs to know to her over breakfast or dinner. Lena’s planning on being just as informed as the doctors when it comes to her best friends baby, especially because she can see that doing it is helping to ease Sam’s mind about the whole thing and she knows there’s nobody else doing it for her.

The coding however… well, it’s not going quite as well. 

She’ll write lines and lines of it during sleep hours and the next morning, she’ll go over it and find a trillion mistakes. What’s worse is, now that Lena’s more afraid of messing up and stressed about getting it done in time, she’s started having nightmares about it going wrong too. 

Nightmares about the bombs going off, about people all across Metropolis drying in the blasts and it being her fault, about going to prison, about Lex discovering it was her, about what Lillian would do to her if she found out. Each time, she wakes up with her heart in her throat and blood rushing in her ears in the middle of the night, she forces herself to go back to sleep just to have another nightmare. It’s a never-ending cycle. 

By dinner on Wednesday, Lena’s arteries are pumping pure coffee around her body and she can ’t stop shaking from the rush of it. Not to mention how much worse her eye bags have gotten. One good development though is that her black eye has lightened enough that’s it’s virtually invisible with makeup on now. 

She’s pretty sure Eliza and Alex didn’t notice it on Saturday, but she’s still glad that they won’t be able to at all anymore. 

For the tutor session, Lena dresses in a pair of Sam’s jeans that are too tight to fit her friend these days and her freshman Metropolis H.S Robotics’ Club hoodie. Lena might get caught up on Kara’s thunderous muscles, but she doesn’t miss the way Kara's been staring at her ass over the weeks. The skater skirts are good for thigh exposure, but skin-tight jeans might just give Kara Danvers an aneurysm. 

Spring has finally taken root, so it’s still bright outside as she makes the familiar journey down into Midvale. 

As she strolls along the main street, she realises how much things have changed over the last couple of months. Lena remembers the first time she walked into Midvale during the day, when the sun was still up. It makes her cringe to look back on it now. She hadn’t had time to change into anything more casual, not even a t-shirt, and it had been the middle of winter at the time. Everyone must have been thinking that she was ridiculous walking around in just a skirt and long socks when there was still frost on the grass, especially as they were all wearing their hats and gloves. 

Now though, the people in Midvale don’t even look up to acknowledge her. She’s blends into the crowd. And even when she’s still wearing her tidy school clothes, they basically ignore her. It feels like everyone’s gotten used to having her make her weekly trips to the Danvers house. They treat her like she’s anybody, just another person passing through. 

And Lena likes it. She really, _really_ likes it.

-

When she reaches their street, Lena notices Eliza’s car is still parked on the drive which is something that’s never happened in the past. She checks the time quickly, a slight panic racing through her thoughts that perhaps she’s too early. But she’s right on time, a bit late if anything because of her reminiscing on the way there. 

Then, when she knocks on the door, it’s not Kara who answers it, but Eliza instead. 

“Hello dear,” she says, opening the door for Lena to step inside. 

“Hi Mrs Danvers,” Lena says. 

“Call me Eliza, dear,” the older woman insists, a warm smile on her face despite how many times she’s had to remind Lena of that. 

“Eliza,” she repeats, hoping that this time it’ll stick. 

She follows Eliza into the kitchen after the woman has called up the stairs for Kara to come down. The brunette doesn’t see Jeremiah or Alex sat on the couch watching a game like they usually are, and her brows knit together. The pair haven’t been going jogging recently during the time Lena was over because they’ve had to ‘wait until the evening to go when it’s cooler’ or whatever Alex’s explanation was. 

Behind her, Eliza must notice her confusion because she explains that, “Alex has a tournament out of town this week, so they won’t be back until the weekend.” 

Lena remembers Alex’s fridge photo’s where she and Maggie are wearing medals and track uniforms. “She runs right?” 

“That’s right. She runs both relay and the four-hundred meters,” Eliza proudly says, “but the four-hundred meters is her best. She could get a full ride scholar-ship with it.”

“Wow,” Lena says, impressed, “did you not want to go too?” 

Eliza chuckles. “I would’ve loved to, but someone needs to stay home to stop that one from clearing out our kitchen.” She points towards the stairs where Kara is currently jogging down, dressed in grey joggers and a baby blue t-shirt, looking slightly out of breath. 

Lena’s laughing at Eliza’s joke as she walks over and Kara’s eyes narrow.

“What’s she been saying about me?” Kara sends an accusatory look Eliza’s way, a small pout forming on her lips that Lena has a hard time tearing her eyes away from.

“Nothing, I was just telling Lena here about where Alex and Jeremiah have gone,” Eliza explains. She now has a book tucked under her arm and her purse slung over her shoulder. “I better get going,” she says, “we’re starting on a new author tonight and Deborah will kill me if I’m late.”

“Call me up if she starts making threats,” Kara quips and they both laugh. 

‘Hah, imagine that. Theoretical murder. If only my family was like that,’ Lena thinks to herself. 

Eliza makes her way to the door with a strangely bullying look on her face that’s aimed towards Kara. The recipient gulps at it and Lena feels like that’s a really, really bad sign for the talk they’re supposed to be having very soon. 

“Bye Mrs Dan-,” Lena pauses and corrects herself, “I mean, Eliza.”

Her face softens as she glances at Lena. “Have a wonderful spring break, dear,” she says. 

Lena fidgets with her sleeve, a feeling of nervousness and slight discomfort coming over her. Nobody has ever said that to her and meant it before. Mostly because Jack and Sam both know she gets left behind at school, so there's no need to fake pleasantries. “Thank you,” she replies.

“Alright, see you later,” Kara breaks the moment and takes a hold of the door for her mother to step out easier.

“I’ll be back at eight. Be good darling,” Eliza says, putting an unusual amount of emphasis on the last part. 

“I will,” Kara calls, quickly waving and shutting the door when Eliza disappears off into the drivers seat. 

The blonde then wanders back into the kitchen where Lena is stood with her bag on her back, hair tied up, a comfy hoodie drowning her small frame, and big glasses perched on the bridge of her nose. Kara has to do a double take when she looks down though, her heart momentarily stopping when her eyes catch on denim. _Jeans_ is her first thought. Lena is wearing _jeans_. Black, skinny jeans. _On Lena._

This is the first time it hasn’t been one of those torturous short skirts and the blonde tries hard not to drool like a Victorian schoolboy seeing a girl’s ankle’s for the first time. But it’s so hard when Lena is stood there, looking so effortlessly perfect. _In. Jeans._ The look is so intimately casual, and Kara knows that Lena wouldn’t wear this at school or at home, which means it’s just for her. It means that Lena is comfortable around her enough to wear them. Her heart grows even bigger at the sight of it. 

And _oh Rao._

When the brunette turns around to take off her bag and set it on top of one of the stools, Kara’s eyes can’t help but drift to her ass. 

Rao, it makes her want to put her hand there. She wants to-.

“Kara!” Lena snaps her out of her daze, catching Kara staring at her with a smirk on her face 

The taller girl can feel the heat rushing to her cheeks and she knows she’s going bright red. It’s so cute and exactly the reaction Lena was hoping for.

“Did you hear anything I just said?” she asks, teasingly.

“I, uh,” Kara coughs to clear her throat and get herself together, “sorry, what was it you said?”

Lena chuckles and leans back against the kitchen table. “I asked if we were going to your room.”

“Oh, right,” Kara seems to gain some confidence now that the attention is off her embarrassing herself, “actually, I was thinking we could go driving, if you like. I’ve got a full tank and it’s going to be an incredible sunset tonight.” 

“Sounds nice,” Lena says. Because why wouldn’t being next to Kara for an uninterrupted hour (golden hour too) not be nice for her? 

“Will you be warm enough in that hoodie?” Kara asks, “it’ll get colder once the sun’s gone down.” 

Lena looks down at the worn hoodie with holes in the sleeve that her thumbs stick out of and shakes her head. Kara puts the kettle on and says, “no problem. You’re just about small enough to fit into my old coat. Here.” 

She walks over to where the coat pegs are and riffles through them until she gets to the bottom of the pile and pulls a lilac knitted coat from off of one of the pegs. Kara takes it back to Lena and hands it over with a smug look on her face. The Luthor takes the coat and holds it out in front of her. 

“This is a poncho Kara,” she deadpans. 

Kara laughs, “Eliza knitted it to me when I first came to live with them. It has tassels and… pockets!” She tugs at the pockets to show her, a shit-eating grin on her face, and Lena just nods, already accepting how much Kara will laugh at her when she puts it on. 

“What about you? Won’t you be cold later?” 

Kara waves her off, “my blood runs hot.” 

The kettle starts to whistle, and the blonde goes to pour the boiled water into a flask, so Lena doesn't get the chance to tell her that all human's blood runs hot- that's the whole point of being a mammal.

“What’re you making?” Lena asks. 

“Hot cocoa,” Kara replies, like it’s obvious. 

“Sorry, yeah. Of course,” Lena says with a smile on her face, pulling the poncho over her head and untucking her hair and the hood of her jumper out. 

Kara laughs at the sight of Lena looking all cute and wrapped up as she pours half a pot of sugar into the flask whilst Lena’s not looking. 

-

The blonde walks her out of the house, taking Lena’s hand without a second thought as they cross the road to where her truck is parked, and then proceeding to open Lena’s door for her and holding it open as she gets in- definitely not looking at her ass as she climbs up. 

“Wow Kara. I didn’t realise you were such a gentleman,” Lena remarks, as she does her seatbelt up and Kara hops into the driver’s seat. 

She sits up from where she’s putting the keys into the ignition and looks far too serious for the joke Lena tried to make. “I will always treat you right, Lena,” she gently says, glancing down to the covered arm that Lillian left nail marks in.

Lena has to look away from her serious stare before it engulfs her, gulping in surprise at what the blonde said. 

Kara doesn’t say anything else as they pull away from the curb.

They drive out of town in the rattling truck until they’re surrounded by nothing but fields. Kara plays an ABBA soundtrack that she explains got jammed in the CD player and now it’s either that or the radio. But the radio is too staticky this far from Midvale, so Lena’s forced to watch to Kara sing her own rendition of ‘Dancing Queen’ really well. Not that Lena’s complaining though, or in any way surprised by her talent. She doubts there’s much Kara’s bad at. She’s not even that bad at Chemistry. 

Fifth-teen minutes of vigilant speeding later, Kara is turning the CD off and pulling into a verge that Lena hadn’t even seen was there. She shuts off the car, lights and all, and takes a deep breath. The brunette watches as she does it. It feels like maybe she should be doing the same. 

They both unbuckle their seatbelts so they can face each other properly. Lena can feel her heart beating in the tips of her fingers by the time Kara speaks. 

“Lena,” she starts, “I want to tell you something important before we talk about… anything else. It’s a secret about where I came from, about who I really am. I actually sort of wanted to tell right after we first met, but I couldn’t in order to protect the Danvers, and also Alex has been telling me not to this whole time. She doesn’t even know I’m doing this right now. _Oh Rao_ ,” Kara takes another deep breath, “but I trust you.”

Their eyes meet for the first time since the car stopped. Kara looks so nervous, probably the most nervous Lena’s ever seen her, and the brunette wants to reach out to hold her hands and tell her that whatever it is, it’s okay. That Kara should never be afraid to tell her anything. 

“What is it?” Lena asks, holding her breath slightly.

Kara wants to look away, she knows it’d be easier for her to get it out if she did. But this is something she needs to say _to_ Lena. It’s something that she really needs to say to her face. 

There’s no backing out now. 

“I’m from a planet called Krypton, not Earth,” Kara says it slowly, her eyes darting across Lena’s face to gage any kind of reaction. 

The Luthor’s mind goes completely blank before what Kara’s said crashes down on her. Lena’s thoughts swirl like the centre of a hurricane. Of course, of all people in the world, Lena would end up catching feelings for an alien. It’s ironic really. A Luthor in love with the exact thing Luthor’s have set out to destroy. 

“An alien,” Lena whispers, her voice hollow. She hadn’t even realised her mouth had gone dry. 

Kara goes on, trying to explain herself, “I came to Earth when I was thirteen, well, I wasn’t really thirteen because Phantom Zone time and- that’s a story for another time. I was meant to look after my baby cousin who, turns out, was already an adult by the time I’d arrived, and he was already doing everything we were _not_ supposed to do. Are still not supposed to do really. I was supposed to help him, I only survived to do that one thing even, but he didn’t need me anymore. And he left me with the Danvers- which, sort of stung, as you can imagine. For a kid who came to this whole new planet after losing their own, to be abandoned alone without the only other person who you could hug without breaking their ribs. But, erm, don't worry, three years on Earth has taught me how to not do that, mainly due to Alex’s impatience and anger after I dislocated her shoulder that one time. Anyway, I swear I would never hurt you. Not on purpose. I can promise you that.” 

“Your _cousin_?” Even through the fog of her thoughts, Lena feels hatred towards the man that left a preteen Kara behind. 

“Kal-El,” Kara says, her eyes becoming frosted over for a second before clearing, “most people know him as Superman.”

The words to sink into Lena’s mind and then she’s recoiling away, her back hitting the door as she fumbles behind herself for the door handle. Superman, Krypton. “No, no, no,” Lena chants breathlessly. 

She needs to get away. 

But a pair of strong, steadying hands land on her shoulders, stopping her from getting any further. She looks into a pair of glassy eyes, realising hers aren’t in a much different state. “Please don’t go Lena,” Kara pleads, her voice sounding watery. 

“I have to.” Lena shivers as the hands slide down to her own hands. “You- you aren’t safe,” she stutters. 

“No. I swear it Lena. _I will never hurt you_ ,” Kara promises, “I’ll _always_ keep you safe.”

“Please. Kara. You don’t understand,” Lena pulls her hand away.

How is she supposed to explain to Kara how risky being near her is? How dangerous her family is? How is Lena supposed to get across the fact that her family is doubtlessly the most harmful for an alien to associate themselves with on the whole fucking planet? 

“Explain it to me then,” Kara practically begs, “help me to understand. Just… don’t leave.”

Lena looks around the truck, as if it’ll help her to find the answers to her questions. But there’s nothing that comes forth and Lena is left with pure panic rising in her chest. Her eyes finally settle on Kara.

“I’m Lena _Luthor_ ,” she admits. 

Kara’s eyes widen slowly as she tries to understand what Lena’s telling her. And once she does, she laughs, a watery, surprised sound. A tear slides down her cheek as she plays with their entwined hands and Lena would really like to know what it is that’s so funny. 

“Kara, do you know what I’m telling you?” Lena questions, “my family are known, nationally, for their xenophobia, specifically towards aliens.” 

Kara just laughs again, “I know who you are Lena.”

“Wh-,” Lena’s face contorts with confusion, “what? Since when? How did you-?” 

“Lena, seriously? I knew who you were as soon as I saw you. How could I not recognise you when you’re family’s photographs are all over the newspapers Jeremiah buys?” Kara wipes her tears away and sniffs.

“But, why-why are you always nice to me if you know who I am?” Lena asks, dumbfounded by this new information.

“Why wouldn’t I be nice to you? Just because of who your family is? That’s a little bit unfair, don’t you think?” Kara wipes her hands on her joggers and takes Lena’s hands into her own again. “Besides. I like you too Lena. And I think you’re smart and funny and beautiful and,” she takes a deep breath, “you mean a lot to me. All the things your family does, they aren’t you. They don’t matter to me. _You_ are what matters to me.”

Lena is frozen still, only blinking to keep her eyes from becoming glazed over. 

She really wishes Kara hadn’t said that. Because she’s meant to be avoiding acting on any rising emotions that she has for the blonde, but when Kara says things like that, things that Lena’s been wanting someone to say to her since before Lex’s first anti-alien interview, it’s really hard not to like the blonde girl even more. Especially when the girl in question, apparently, has similar feelings for her. 

Within seconds she’s reached across the small space, one of her hands landing behind Kara’s neck to pull her close and the other resting on her jaw as their lips connect. A rush of vanilla fills her brain and she becomes dizzy with it. 

The blonde doesn’t react right away, which Lena quikcly notices and she starts to lean back. But then Kara’s hands land on her hips to stop her from going any further. The blonde kisses her back enthusiastically, sighing into the kiss, their lips sliding against one another’s. Lena was right, Kara kisses are so, so soft, even softer than she’d imagined. Soft, but firm. 

Swiftly, Kara’s tongue darts out and licks along her bottom lip, making Lena gasp. And then the kiss turns almost frantic. She uses the opportunity to slide her tongue into the brunette’s mouth and their tongues clash together. The blonde easily dominates the kiss, exactly how Lena needs her to. She melts against Kara, her hands falling against her t-shirt and bawling the warm fabric in her fists as Kara brings their bodies flush together. And God- it’s _still_ not enough. Lena wants more. 

She needs _more_.

In a desperate move to get closer, she climbs into the stronger girl’s lap. Kara eagerly helps lift her up as she goes, her hands falling to the Luthor’s ass, finally getting what she’s wanted since she first saw Lena in those tight, tight jeans. Lena groans into her when she squeezes with a purposeful insistence and she starts to grind down. Their glasses get quickly knocked off in order to bring their faces nearer together, discarded on the floor and forgotten.

In those minutes, where one of Kara’s hands moves to her waist to encourage her to move faster, grind harder, and they gasp and moan into each other’s mouths, Lena knows that this is right. All those other times she’d ever kissed a girl, it’d been purely out of spite. Spite of her mother, spite of all the boys Lex put her with, spite of Veronica for always spiking her drinks, spite of everyone who ever told her kissing girls was wrong. It's never been like this before, she's never felt a _need_ like this before.

Right now, as the sunsets behind them and all she can taste is Kara, Kara, Kara, she knows that this couldn’t ever be wrong. Her hands reach up and tangle in blonde curls and any spite she once felt could not be the furthest thing from her mind right then. 

Eventually, they have to pull apart to breathe, having already gone beyond what humans are usually capable of: both Kara and Lena are breathing heavily with their foreheads pressed together and arousal thrumming though their bodies. 

Kara moves her hands to wrap around Lena’s back and chuckles once she’s caught her breath. 

“What’s so funny?” Lena asks, high and breathy. She sits back to see blown blue eyes focused on her; large grins spreading across both their faces. 

“You’re perfect,” Kara says in complete awe of the girl sat bracketing her thighs, her voice is deep and gravelly, and it makes Lena shiver with want. 

And for once, Lena blushes. “Says you,” she replies.

The Luthor slowly runs her fingertips along Kara’s bare arms, watching as goose bumps form beneath them. Meanwhile the blonde kisses at her temple, with wet and open kisses, moving down to her cheekbone, and along her jaw until she reaches her ear. Kara has to shift back to reach it, causing the blonde to groan at the slickness she feels between her legs, and she whispers, “I’m so wet.” 

“ _Kara_ ,” Lena gasps, caught off guard by her words, her hips involuntarily grating against the girl's firm stomach. 

“It’s all for you,” she says like a promise, her own hips bucking up to meet Lena’s. 

They swallow each other’s moans in another heady kiss as Lena’s hands come down to the waistband of Kara’s sweatpants. 

Right before she’s about to push past it and into Kara’s underwear, her phone goes off, buzzing loudly in her back pocket. Kara chuckles in defeat after it rings out for a second time and she slips it out of the pocket, handing it to Lena. A photo of Jack comes up on the screen, one of him asleep and covered in chess pieces. Lena hits decline, but just as she’s handing it back to Kara, it goes off again. 

She sighs and casts a regretful look up at Kara. 

“It’s alright, answer it,” Kara says, a smile on her face. 

“Sorry,” Lena apologises, and presses accept, “what the-.” 

Jack speaks right over her, “ _Lena!_ You need to come back _right now_. Oh My God. Hurry! My shirt is _ruined_ , fucking hell!”

“Jack? Jack? Can you calm down for just a second?” Lena tries to get him to explain what’s going on, but he won’t stop shouting about blood staining and all the expansive materials his shirt is made from.

“Lena?” Sam’s voice takes over, even though she can still hear Jack in the background. Her friend sounds muffled and afraid. 

“Are you okay? What’s going on?” 

“Can you come back now?” Sam asks, sounding close to tears. 

Kara, who can no doubt hear the conversation, has already eased Lena off her lap and slipped back into the drivers seat. “Yeah, I’ll be there soon Sam. Don’t worry,” she promises and buckles her seatbelt back up. 

-

Kara parks outside the gates of Mount Helena and leans over, kissing Lena on her forehead, which the brunette is grateful for. She’s not sure she would be able to convince herself to leave if she got another taste, like an addict. 

She has always had a bit of a drug abuse problem. 

“See you after spring break?” Kara asks. 

“I hope so,” Lena smiles, pulling her rucksack onto her shoulder and trying not to think about how that’s almost two weeks away. 

“Let me know if your friend is alright,” Kara says. 

With that reminder, Lena speeds up getting out of the truck, still quickly stopping to turn around though. Leaving like this feels wrong after… after everything they’ve just done. “Kara?” 

“Yeah?” 

“Thank you,” she says, “for tonight.”

Kara laughs, “it was literally my pleasure, Lena.”

Lena scoffs at her and pushes the door shut. 

She rushes through the gates, sending off a text to Jack asking him where they are. 

-

Lena arrives at Sam’s dorm room less than ten minutes later to find Jack in his vest, a wet, pink-stained shirt in his hands and too busy scrubbing it with a wet-wipe to notice her. Sam’s room is littered with unravelled tissue paper, and Sam is crumpled up in the bath with a bloody tissue pressed to her nose and a couple dozen more in her hands. 

“A nosebleed? Really?! Why couldn’t you just call the nurse?” Lena asks as she pulls Sam out of the bath, handing her a new tissue. 

“I don’t want anyone to get suspicious,” Sam mumbles. 

Lena guides Sam to sit on the toilet, pinch her nose and tilt her head down. She wants to berate Sam on her paranoia, ‘it’s just a nose bleed’ she feels like saying ‘they’re normal’, but that’s probably the last thing her friend needs to hear right now, so instead she clears up the mess and makes Jack help her rather than whining about a bit of ruined material. Once they’ve done that, they all sit together as they wait for her nose bleed to stop- the three of them cramped into the tiny bathroom- and talk over some of the plans for the prosthetic to distract both Sam from her predicament and Jack from what he’ll have to wear back to his own dorm room. 

As they discuss, Lena finds out that Jack has been getting on well with the prosthetic by himself, but she promises to get back to helping him during spring break when everyone else has gone home, nevertheless. 

This code is ruining her life. 

-

As soon as she gets to her own dorm room, she collapses onto her bed, poncho and all, falling straight into a dreamless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked this one, idk if I'm good at 'intimate scenes' or whatever so sorry if it was lame \\_("-")_/


	12. Who's womb?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the Friday night Party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to get this 'event' all down in one chapter but it was starting to get long so it'll have to be two chapters.  
> Warnings for underage drinking and a mention of smoking.

Lena’s finished the code by Thursday afternoon. For the rest of Thursday, she checks and double checks it. At least two of her teachers shout at her for not paying attention in class and her friends send her concerned looks all day. By Friday, she’s shaking with nerves. She has the sequences typed out and ready to send to Lex on her phone, but every time she goes to send it off, she freezes up with pure _dread_ and has to chew ice in and recite pi in order to not freak out. 

But she _has_ to send it off before Monday. 

It doesn’t exactly matter that today is her birthday. Lena’s Birthday’s always were a sullen event in the Luthor household. Not even Lionel would celebrate it in fear of what Lillian would do: to her mother, Lena’s birthday was a reminder of Lionel’s mistakes and unfaithfulness to the family. You can imagine what that day was like when she had neither Lex nor Lionel around to keep her out of Lillian’s spiteful rampages. 

Lillian did what she wanted to her. 

For now, safely hidden in the Senior’s boarding wing, she opts to ignore the pain this day typically causes her and the looming threat of Lex and his Cadmus plans, and instead focus on Sam and Jack who are still getting ready an hour after they’d begun. Lena sits on Sam’s bed dressed in her short black skater skirt and black turtleneck with a velvet wine-coloured blazer on top, a silver star pendent around her neck and boots on her feet. Sam, who is wearing a pair of plaid suit trousers, a black top, and a long black coat to hide her little bump, has spent the whole-time applying makeup. She made Lena ‘at least put some eye shadow on’, and then proceeded to do the same for herself, leaving Lena to deal with Jack. He has basically bought his entire wardrobe for them to help him decide on an outfit to wear for tonight. 

“Waist coat or no waist coat?” he asks her, holding the navy waistcoat over his shirt and then dropping it to show what it would look like with and without. 

“No waist coat,” Sam says without even looking over. 

He huffs indignantly at her and she shrugs at him through the mirror. “What? Unless you’re going to a funeral or wedding, you shouldn’t wear a waist coat,” she explains. 

“I don’t know why you’re putting so much effort into this. You do know the football coach isn’t going to be there right?” Lena teases and Sam snorts a laugh. 

“Lena,” Jack turns to her in fake disbelief, “ _everyone_ is going to be there. At least one of them will be gay. Football coach or no football coach- I will be getting laid tonight.” 

“Ewww,” Sam shakes her head at him, “that’s like asking for an STI Jack.” 

“We’ll use protection,” Jack ensures, turning to Lena to whisper, “she is such a hypocrite.” 

Lena slaps his shoulder, but can’t help the laugh that escapes her lips. 

“I heard that,” Sam says, putting her lip-gloss down a little bit too harshly. 

“I don’t think a baby really counts as an STI Jack,” Lena chuckles. 

“Sure it does,” he says, continuing with his outfit changes, “it’s just a more permanent one.”

“You can say that again,” Sam says, rubbing her little bump with one hand as she puts her make-up back in its bag with the other. 

A moment later, Jack goes over and whispers something to Sam, who grins widely at whatever he says, and then they both look over at Lena, excited smiles on their faces.

“What are you two conspiring over there without me?” she questions. 

Jack stalks over to his coat and takes out a big gift-wrapped box that was hidden beneath it. The wrapping paper says, ‘Happy 4th Birthday’ and has little Peppa Pigs printed on it, which makes Lena laugh. 

“We know you don’t like your birthday or surprises or gifts,” Sam explains, “but Jack saw this online and insisted we buy it because we know you’re secretly a huge nerd.”

“Go on,” Jack urges impatiently, “open it.” 

So Lena does, and as soon as the first bit of wrapping paper is ripped off, she knows exactly what it is. “You guys are ridiculous,” she says with a smile on her face. 

It’s a Tantive IV Star Wars Lego Set- Lena’s favourite Star Wars ship in the whole franchise. She’s a little bit amazed by her friends right now. “How did you-?”

“How did we know it was your favourite?” Jack grins, cutting over her, “well, do you remember back when you made us watch all the movies that one weekend and you mentioned it like a million times?”

“That was almost two years ago,” Lena sheepishly says.

“We didn’t forget,” Jack shrugs. 

“Do you like it?” Sam hesitantly asks.

Lena looks between them, feeling an overwhelming amount of love for her two friends at that moment, and pulls them into a very out-of-character hug. “I love it,” she whispers, “thank you.” 

Jack and Sam both laugh at her reaction and hug her back tightly. 

-

After Jack’s finished getting changed, deciding to wear a casual suit, penny loafers, his grey chesterfield coat, and his tartan wool scarf on top like it’s not mid-spring, they make their way down into Midvale to find the house party they’re already two hours late for. 

The party is in full swing once they arrive with music blasting, lights flashing, people laying on the lawn- some passed out except a couple who seem to be making out-, the classic red paper cups littered everywhere, and the smell of spilt alcohol emanating from inside. Lena, Sam, and Jack exchange looks of disbelief. This is something they’d all expect from a college frat party, _not_ a Midvale house party. 

Jack eagerly leads the way to the front door. 

Inside the house, it’s twice as loud and there are a multitude of sweating bodies jumping to a pop song that's playing from a pair of speakers that make the floor vibrate beneath their feet. It’s a familiar setting for Lena to be in, it’s the sort of place that she'd spent most of her teenage years so far in. Although, usually it would be some shitty club that let under-aged rich kids in and not a random house party that she'd find herself in. But a party’s a party. 

Instead of the well-stocked bar she and Jack are used to, they find a kitchen island covered in cider cans, beer bottles, red cups stacked up and other open bottles of cheap liquor. They vigilantly avoid the open bottles in favour of not being drugged tonight and go for the cider cans to begin with. Jack happily pours half of his and Lena’s cans down the sink in order to refill them with the gin from his hip flask whilst Sam grabs one of the red cups and fills it with orange juice from inside the fridge. They’ve all agreed that Sam is the designated driver in case anyone asks why she’s not drinking, in the hopes that nobody asks to see the car. 

After getting their drinks, they make their way through the crowds to look around at the scene, also because Jack insists on them helping him scout out good looking boys. They both know he’s only half joking about taking someone home tonight, so they might as well make sure it’s not someone too off-putting. 

The further into the house they venture, the more they see. Other than the bright kitchen and dark living-room-turned-dancefloor, there’s a room filled with chairs and sofas where poker games and truth or dare are happening, a basement where a movie is playing and where a few deposited passed out teenagers are with their annoyed and concerned friends making sure they don’t choke on their own vomit, a busy stairwell leading to the next floor that they don’t even bother climbing through, and a large garden where all the intense drinking is happening. Lena spots a game of beer-pong, a group holding someone vertical over a keg as they chug down cheap beer, and about a million clashing cliques all sat around in their separate groups talking or smoking. 

_How has Lena never been to a Midvale party before?_

They circle around back to the kitchen and Jack pours him and Lena a shot of his gin. Anything would be better for taking shots with than gin, even expensive gin on its own tastes like pine needles, but it’s all they had left in their dorms after swearing off alcohol for the last month. So they both hold up their glasses and Jack makes a quick toast, “to Lena’s seventeenth year.” They clink their glasses, Sam joining in with her red solo cup, and down their drinks in one go. Sam gets a good laugh out of their grimaces. 

“This party is shit,” Jack complains, “it’s a good job I’m here otherwise I fear for its relevance.”

Lena rolls her eyes at him. It’s annoying that he has a right to be cocky: he’s always known how to liven a party up. Which usually involved ‘illegal substances’ (ones that Sam ensured they both ended their relationships with over a year ago now).

Sam sarcastically replies, “because you’re known for being _extremely relevant_.”

“Hey! I’ll have you know Connor Franta retweeted me once,” Jack defends himself. 

“ _Once_ ,” Lena repeats for emphasis and Sam smirks into her drink which makes Jack even more defensive. 

“You’re just mad ‘cos Connor Franta has never retweet any of your tweets before,” he grumbles. 

Lena would point out that neither her nor Sam have Twitter, but Jacks handing her another shot before she can say anything more. 

This time he toasts, “to a good night!” 

Right as Lena is bringing the cup to her lips, it’s batted out of her hand and crashes onto the floor, spraying gin onto everyone’s shoes. The culprit collides with her due to how fast they ran over, but quickly scrambles away. All three of them turn heatedly towards the shaggy brown hair and thick-rimmed glasses on the boy that Lena recognises as the clerk from the Pharmacy, his mouth agape and looking equally shocked by his own actions. 

“What was that for??” Lena questions, not too angry about her lost drink or wet ankles like Sam and Jack, but more dismayed that someone has the audacity to do that to her, to anyone really, especially somebody who's practically a fucking stranger no less. _Who the fuck would so that to somebody?_

“I- erm,” the boy glances to Sam, then to Jack and back to her, “I- it’s,” he stutters out, gulping and then subtly motioning towards her stomach with his head. 

“Winn!” a blonde yells as she stumbles through the crowd, dodging the dancers as she moves, and comes to rest her arm casually over his shoulders. “You okay?” she asks the boy quietly. 

And Lena immediately recognises Kara from behind her baseball cap and the red and blue flannel she’s wearing that’s sleeves are rolled up just past her forearm. Should she even be surprised to see her anymore? They’ve managed to go two years without bumping into each other, but now that they know each other it’s all they seem to be doing. At this point, Kara could show up to one of her classes and Lena probably wouldn’t even bat an eye. 

“That boy just threw my friends drink on the ground for _no reason what-so-ever_ ,” Jack pipes up angrily as Kara and Lena are stood still, gazes fixed on each other. 

“Jack,” Sam hisses, “that’s Kara. Lena’s tutor friend.”

Jack gives the blonde a cautionary once over, the look of disgust on his face fading into something a little less hostile. “Kara? Like as in Kara Danvers?”

They both snap out of their staring, Lena to look at her shoes and compose herself after Kara half devoured her with her eyes, and Kara to pay attention to whoever just said her name. 

“That’s me,” Kara grins, easy and effortlessly relaxing.

“Care to explain why the boy beside you just ruined a perfectly good shot of gin?” Jack begins his interrogation.

“Well, it’s a shot of _gin_ ,” Sam snorts, “I don’t know how good it could’ve been.” 

“Sam,” Jack jeers, “ _shut. Up._ ”

“Well, he probably didn’t mean to,” Kara turns to Winn, who is still looking at Lena, “right Winn?”

He doesn’t reply, just continues to gape at the cup in Lena’s hand with his brows furrowed. _Fuck._ She's just realised what's going on. _Oh God, he probably thinks she’s an awful person._ This is sort of her fault.

She lets out a deep sigh, rolls her eyes and informs everyone that they’re all going outside right that moment. 

They find a quiet spot at the front of the house, beside the porch stairs, where they form a circle, everyone except Lena looking very confused and minorly concerned. “Winn,” Lena begins, “explain why you threw my drink on the ground.”

He looks at her hesitantly for a moment. 

“You can tell them,” she encourages. 

“Erm, I- I,” Winn stutters, “I didn’t want you to drink anything with alcohol in it because that- it’s- it’s dangerous for baby’s still developing in the womb.”

Once the words register in everybody's heads, they all speak at once. 

“Baby’s?” Kara croaks. 

Sam asks, “who’s womb?” 

“You’re pregnant too!?” Jack drunkly exclaims. 

Lena can’t look at Kara until after she’s explained everything. Her heart can barely handle just hearing the blonde sound so… stunned, so it’s best for Lena’s long-term health if she doesn’t focus on her right now. She concentrates on Sam instead. “Winn works at the pharmacy, here in Midvale,” she says slowly in the hopes that Sam will pick up her meaning, “the one where I buy things people at school don’t have access to.”

Fortunately, Sam catches on quickly. “ _Oh_ ,” she drags out the word, “so he thinks you’re pregnant?”

Lena nods. 

Winn’s brows furrow eve further if that’s even possible. “Wait. What? So, you _aren’t_ pregnant?” Winn asks, his head tilting to the right. 

Lena shakes her head. 

“Oh thank _God_ ,” Jack lets out a big breath of air and his body dramatically slumps over, “I can’t be the only not pregnant person.”

“But then, why did you buy pregnancy tests and all those vitamins?” Winn continues, slightly slurring his words. 

Lena takes a deep breath to force herself not to get angry at Winn. Of course he had to ask that. Couldn’t have just left it at that, could he?. Nothing can ever be easy for Lena can it? 

“Not for me, obviously,” she responds. 

Jack looks at Sam then, the alcohol already hitting him hard and stopping him from not giving away any tells. Winn follows Jack’s movement, causing Kara to as well. Lena ends up doing the same, just a quick glance and yeah, Sam’s bump is sort of obvious under the bright porch light and tight t-shirt. It doesn’t help that her hands are in her pockets either because it means her blazer is pushed back and even from where Lena is stood to her side it’s clear as day. 

As soon as Sam picks up on everyone’s eye-lines, she withdraws her hands and her blazer falls back into place, going back to doing its job of concealing the small bump. 

“Uh oh,” Jack says like a toddler who’s just been caught drawing on the walls, giving it away further. Lena feels like someone needs to slap him. 

“You’re the pregnant one?” Winn asks, dumbly. 

Lena sighs and pinches her nose. 

“It’s not really any of your business _Winslow_ ,” Jack drawls, slipping his arm around the boys waist. 

“Yes, I’m the pregnant one, but you have to keep it a secret,” Sam rushes out, “all of you. You can’t tell anyone. _At all_.”

“Oh no,” Kara whines and clenches her fists, her biceps noticeably flexing against the flannel as she does- not that Lena’s looking at her arms or anything, “I’m really bad at keeping secrets. Winn tell them.”

“She’s the worst,” Winn confirms. 

Lena holds back a scoff. Kara managed to keep her alien origins from her for around three months easy peasy. But she supposes the blonde wasn’t actually lying to her, she was just not being… honest.

“You don’t have an option. Nobody else can find out,” Sam insists. 

“It’s okay Kara,” Winn pats her on the shoulder and sways slightly where he’s stood, “you’re not the worst at keeping secrets. You’re actually good at it sometimes.”

“Really?” Kara lights up like a puppy who’s about to go on a walk. 

“Yeah,” he insists, “you just completely suck at _lying_. They’re different.”

She becomes exasperated, “see! Alex will see right through me.”

“Alex?” Sam perks up, “that’s your sister, isn’t it?” 

Kara nods, deflated. 

“I don’t mind her knowing. She’ll find out eventually, so I might as well tell her now. The bump’s already getting hard to hide and we’ll be seeing more of each other in the future,” Sam shrugs. 

Kara grins bright as the sun straight away and Lena smiles to herself, it’s both painfully clear and extremely confusing as to how Lena, of all people, has managed to fall for the embodiment of sunshine. 

“Shots anyone?” Jack suggests, swaying his flask in front of them and lazily grinning. 

Winn, Jack, and Lena are the only ones who end up doing them, with Kara saying she doesn’t drink to maintain her fitness and Sam being pregnant. They toast to Sam this time, wishing her a smooth pregnancy and all laughing as she shushes them. 

The shot and the mixed can of cider with gin, as well as the single shot she got to do prior to Winn literally crashing into her life, must finally have reached her brain because Lena can already feel her limbs loosening up and thoughts slowing down. 

A few minutes and quick ‘proper’ introductions later, Alex is standing at the top of the porch stairs waving her arms out in their direction. “Kara!” she calls, trying to get her sisters attention. 

Everyone in the group steps back from the tight circle they’d formed to see Alex beside a sagged over, sickly looking Maggie and another taller girl trying to get her to drink water. “Is she okay?” Sam asks. 

Alex glances down at Maggie for a second before looking back up, “I think she drank a bit too much of James’ Vodka 14,” Alex explains, “she’ll be fine.”

But the gagging noises coming from Maggie don’t sound very promising and Lena has to look away, just in case. 

“What’re you doing down there? You joining a cult Kara?” Alex teases. 

“Go away Alex,” Kara gripes. 

Alex just laughs and turns back to Maggie as her other friend spills the water she’s holding on Maggie’s trainers. 

“Alex,” Sam calls to her. 

Alex glances back over, “yeah?” 

“Can I talk to you about something?” she asks. 

“Yeah, sure. What is it?” 

Sam walks over quickly, leading Alex away from the group to go somewhere more private. 

Lena turns to Jack to ask if she should go too, but gets an eye-full of him and Winn erotically making out against the side of the house instead. “Oh my God _Jack_!” she yelps, quickly spinning around as he reaches for Winn’s ass, “get a room, Jesus Christ!” 

Kara glances over as Jack loudly groans. She exclaims, accidentally seeing Winn’s hands down the front of the black-haired boy’s trousers, “ _ah! My eyes!_ ” She rushes to cover them with her hands inhumanly fast. 

They both hurry away and slip back into the house. 

“I’m sorry about Jack,” Lena chuckles when they find a spot to stand together, “sometimes he just can’t help himself.”

Kara laughs, “who knew Winn even liked guys, huh?” 

Lena has to step back in disbelief, a confident smirk on her face thanks to the liquid courage flowing through her veins, “literally everyone, Kara. I barely know him, and I know. Haven’t you noticed he wears cardigans?”

“ _I_ wear cardigans,” Kara argues. 

Lena just gives her a pointed look that makes the blonde laugh. “I didn’t realise you knew Winn,” she mumbles.

“I don’t really. He just works at the pharmacy I’ve been buying from,” Lena replies, “I didn’t realise he was your friend.”

“Oh yeah, me and Winn have been friends since the beginning. He’s the one who got me into writing for the school paper."

“The school paper?” Lena giggles, feeling light, “don’t tell me you’re a nerd as well as a jock Kara.”

Kara smiles, far too contently for Lena’s liking, and nods. “I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but I only have a tutor as a cover. High school chemistry is something I learnt when I was six.” 

“ _No_ ,” Lena feigns offence, probably skipping over the piece of Advanced Civilisation knowledge due to her inability to do anything but tease Kara in her tipsy state, “are you sure it was only a cover? ‘Cos you’re pretty good at playing dumb for someone who’s supposedly just pretending.”

Kara laughs into her bottle of… J2O. 

“Are you drinking fruit juice right now?” Lena scoffs before the blonde can reply.

“It’s summer shine pear and guava,” Kara says like it’s supposed to help her argument. 

“So?”

“It’s the best flavour,” she explains, taking another sip, “better than any of that petrol you are all drinking anyway.”

“It’s not like I’m drinking it for its flavour,” Lena laughs, “some of us are trying to get drunk tonight.” 

“I’ll have you know there is plenty of Aldebaran Rum in this bottle,” Kara justifies, “enough to get me drunk, and plenty to send any of you humans into a coma.”

“How’d you get a hold of something like that?” Lena questions, “did you have to fly to Aldebaran yourself?”

Kara scoffs, “Rao no. My cousin gave it to me.” 

“Well it looks like just J2O to me,” Lena says. 

“That’s the point,” Kara laughs again, taking a longer sip this time, “to be fair, it is mostly J2O. It’s like 30 percent…” 

Kara goes into depth about the alien rum and J2O mix, but Lena can’t seem to pay attention.

She’s too busy salivating at the sight of the blonde’s mouth sealing around the lip of her bottle as she takes another quick sip, an action that should _not_ be turning Lena on right now. She has to promptly grab Kara’s hand and guide her into the crowd of drunk dancers lest she jump Kara right there for everyone to see. The brunette drinks down her cider in a few gulps to keep both of her hands free to dance, letting the alcohol sink into her blood stream and thin her thoughts out to just this moment. 

Kara happily goes with it. She puts her drink down on a random counter, pushing at least three other cans onto the floor as she does, and lets Lena lead her to the beat of the music, the heat of the jumping crowd, the way her entire body lights up where their bodies meet. 

Lena gets lost against Kara’s solid body, her vanilla smell, her fruity breath. The world around them blends into nothing as they join the party as they dance. They press so close and then move around with the crowd so that only their fingertips are touching over and over again. Kara whispers words like, “beautiful,” and, “perfect” into her ear whenever they get near enough, and it makes Lena grip the other girls hips so hard. She wants to feel her whole body against her, until there's no space left between them to even breathe. Kara seems to agree because when the crowd gets particularly dense, she presses so close and sucks at her neck, burying her face behind Lena’s hair. It makes the brunette gasp at the subtle movement, her hips jump forward, but the crowd scatters and they have to pull apart again. She knows it’s left a purple mark and she watches Kara keep her eyes fixed on it as they dance.

At some point, Jack finds her and drags her away to the kitchen to get another drink before her buzz dies down. She spots Sam sitting with Alex and her very sick looking friends on the front steps of the house still. Sam isn’t deterred by the two girls who’re slumped over next to them looking very green, and nor, by the looks of how well they’re hitting it off, is Alex. By now Lena’s higher brain functions have been entirely lost to the warm feeling in the pit of her stomach and she smiles too lopsided to appear as anything other than wasted. Sam gives her a concerned look, but she waves her off and goes back into the crowd to find Kara. 

She gets swept between two boys that the brunette recognises as Mount Helena Panthers from their black varsity jackets. They get a little too enthusiastic in brushing up against her when they realise who she is and Kara steps in from no-where as soon as she hears Lena’s elevated heartrate, even though the Kryptonian can barely hear it above all the chatter and music. Controlling her senses is harder when everything takes more thinking to do. The Panthers take one look at their joined hands and Kara's set jaw and they step back. Lena lets Kara tug her from the dance floor and out onto the porch, leaving the now-pissed-off boys behind. 

“What’re we doing out here?” Lena asks, her voice a few octaves deeper as arousal thrums deep in her core from Kara's protective display. 

Kara hears the need thick in the brunettes voice and her silly grin turns to something more of a smug smirk, her own alcohol seeping into her decision making. She takes Lena’s fingers and wraps them in her own as she leads her down the porch steps and into the empty side entrance. 

Lena’s back is pressed up against the wall as Kara steps into her space, a stupidly attractive smile on her face and cheeks tinged pink. It doesn’t even cross Lena’s mind that someone could find them like this, and her secret would be out. “What is it?” Lena quietly asks, biting her bottom lip against a smile. 

“I really, _really_ like you,” Kara says, it comes out too messy and scrambled with a tinge of her old accent, but Lena understands her fine. 

The brunettes heart rate picks up again and her mouth runs dry, she has to lick her lips to wet them. 

“I’ve never felt like this towards anyone before and it scares me, to get attached to new people, because of how much I’ve lost,” Kara confesses, “but I want to hold onto you and never let go Lena. It drives me insane sometimes, how much I’m already attached to you. Like there’s no going back.”

“It scares me too,” Lena admits, her words not as slurred yet, “I’ve only known you for a few months, and it’s hard for me to trust people. But with you, it feels like… I don’t know, it feels like I’ve known you forever, and I can be myself with you. Does that make sense?”

Kara’s smile grows impossibly wider and she stumbles forward so that her knee is nestled between Lena’s thighs. “It makes perfect sense. That's how I feel too,” she says and their lips brush, “I like who you are. ‘M glad you can be like that around me.” 

Kara’s hands rest either side of her head when their mouths slot together in a slow, gentle kiss. Nothing frantic or desperate about it like last time, even when the need is burning brighter than before. Lena wants it just like this, with Kara pressing against her with her strong hands, hands that have moved to her waist and are keeping her pinned to the wall. Lena’s own hands are now buried in blonde hair, the baseball cap knocked to the floor by their feet. 

Soon, Kara’s kisses move along the column of her throat and take their place in the same spot as earlier, alternating between laving on the mark that’s already there and sucking the skin into her mouth to make it darker. Lena’s hold tightens in the taller girl’s hair when the marked skin gets too tender and Kara’s tongue darts out to sooth the area. She blows cold air on the wet, purple skin and the brunette gasps when she feels it. Kara steps back to capture her lips again. 

This time, it _is_ a frantic, desperate, _messy_ rush. Kara’s lips are insistent against hers and Lena hardly has time to breathe before their tongues urgently pursue each other. God, _it’s exactly what she's been needing_. It both quells the fire in the pit of her stomach and adds fuel to the burning heat that’s building there. One of her hands reach around to Kara’s back to bring them closer together, and Kara moans into her mouth as their thighs slot together. 

“Lena,” she gasps when the brunette’s lips move to the collar bones exposed by her baggy top, “Rao, I need you.”

She can feel Lena’s smile against her skin, and she needs to see it. Can’t get enough of how beautiful her smile looks. Kara’s fingertips come down to the Luthor’s chin and she gently tilts it up so that the blonde can capture her lips again. 

But they’re forced to break apart by a loud sob coming from the front lawn and the multiple buzzes coming from Kara’s phone that’s in the front pocket of her jeans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it.  
> Sorry it was sort of just a build up for the next chapter tho.  
> I swear this fic will earn its explicit rating eventually lmao just not now


	13. She's feisty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lot of Veronica drama because why not and... what you've been waiting for ;)
> 
> Warning for drug use and violence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy

Lena whines as Kara pulls away, both of them breathless and panting into the cool spring night air. 

“One sec’,” Kara says, giving her a quick kiss before taking her phone from her pocket. 

Lena looks in the direction of where some people are having an argument on the lawn. With just one glance she can tell they’re Mount Helena students. The lights reflecting from their polished shoes, the expensive outfits they’re wearing, and the fact that they’re begging for attention with all the noise they’re making; it’s basically a microcosm of Mount Helena. When her eyesight focuses enough to make out distinct features Lena can’t decide between an eye roll or a gag. 

Andrea is closest to the road, stood on her own with tears pouring down her cheeks, she’s wiping at them angrily, but more just fall in their place. Veronica is stood near the front steps, with James (the one she recognises as Kara’s friend) behind her looking very tired whilst doing up his belt. Veronica has one hand in a fist and the other combing through her hair. She glances around with a nervous smile on her face, as though what everyone else is thinking about her is more important than whatever it is Andrea is crying about. 

It makes Lena’s blood boil. 

In front of her, Kara sighs and steps back slightly so that they aren’t leaning into each other. 

“What’s wrong?” Lena asks. 

The blonde glances up at Lena, a wistful look on her face, and then pockets her phone. “It’s Alex,” she explains, “Maggie is sick so they’re taking her home. She wants to make sure I’m okay before she goes.” 

“We really need to stop answering our phones,” Lena chuckles, straightening out her skirt and top as Kara steps back further and neatens the collar of her flannel. 

Kara laughs, “I second that. Maybe if we silenced them or something, we might actually get further than a kiss.”

Lena would have asked what the blonde thought that would entail had she not heard a few more texts come through on Kara’s phone. Instead, she looks back over to the noise on the front lawn chuckling and Kara takes her phone back out. 

This time when she assesses the argument, she sees that James has gotten closer to Andrea, but she is holding her hands out like they’ll will him away. When green eyes scan over to Veronica though, she sees that those deep brown eyes are fixed on where they stand in the dark side-alley of the house. Her heart instantly stops, inhaling suddenly. 

Veronica’s snarl turns into something more like smug satisfaction. Like she knows she’s got Lena cornered now. 

Kara must hear her panic because she quickly follows Lena’s eyeline and finds Veronica staring back. “Who’s that?” she asks quietly. 

“Veronica,” Lena answers, somehow not realising how bad an idea it is. 

Kara remembers the bruises on Lena’s side and her black eye, and she glares back at Veronica, her jaw clenching and muscles flexing as she reaches down to her wrist where there’s a bracelet that’s been duck tapped over. But Lena grabs her wrist before she can pull it off. 

“Even though I would love to see you punch Veronica into space and you being protective of me right now is,” Lena takes a few quick breaths, “ _really_ doing something to me, I don’t think it’s a good idea to show your alien strength to the world tonight.”

“I don’t need my alien strength to beat up that piece of crap,” Kara says, low and tense. 

Lena reaches out and turns her head so that they’re looking at each other. “I know you don’t need it. Even I didn’t,” Lena chuckles, “but please don’t. You go, find Alex; I’ll meet you on the curb in five.”

She’s proud she made it sound so organised despite how all-over-the-place her emotions feel right now, along with the amount of alcohol she’s consumed still swirling around her body.

Kara relaxes a little and gives Lena a small smile, “okay, okay. In five then. Promise?” 

“Promise.” 

She swiftly leans forward and kisses the brunette before jogging off to find which car Alex is leaving in. 

Lena stands there for a few seconds more, dazed as she watches Kara disappear from sight and then turns her eyes furiously back on Veronica. 

The girl in the bright red top and snake boots isn’t staring in her direction anymore, she’s scoffing at something Andrea has just said as James rubs at his neck and stares at the floor, but Lena doesn’t feel any more comforted by that than if Veronica had photo evidence of her and Kara kissing. 

To avoid getting involved, Lena walks with large strides in the shadows towards the front steps. She can see the crowd inside and is already thinking about where she might find Jack and Sam, but of course nothing goes how she wants it to. Just as she’s reaching the porch, Andrea spots her. 

“Luthor! This is your fault!” she shouts on a sob. 

The brunette’s whole body stiffens. 

She hears Veronica’s laugh and James saying a confused, “what,” under his breath. 

Andrea continues, “Veronica only went after James because you-.”

In an instant Lena is across the lawn, grabbing Andrea’s arms to shock her and stop her from going any further. She would never survive being outed here, in front of everyone.

“Don’t finish that sentence,” Lena commands in a whisper. 

Andrea at least has the audacity to look guilty. “You’re drunk,” Lena sighs, “what’re you even arguing about?”

“Veronica slept with James,” Andrea says, hiccupping, “I just caught my ex boyfriend’s _cock_ in my ex best-friend’s _mouth_.”

“Jesus Christ,” Lena says, because she can’t seem to come up with anything comforting to say. 

The crying girl just stands there, all the fight having now drained out of her. And despite having her life one word away from being ruined by her, Lena does feel sorry for her. Veronica tricked them both. 

“Veronica’s a bitch,” she says, making Andrea crack a very small smile, “why don’t I call you a cab back to school?” 

She leads Andrea to the curb, an arm slung around her back, and dials a memorised number for Midvale’s taxi service. 

James stumbles towards them as she’s ending the call. 

“Andrea I-,” he begins. 

“Uh uh uh,” Lena holds out her hand to keep him away from her fragile _friend_ , “you’re disgusting James. Sleeping with your ex’s best friend? What is wrong with you?”

James looks more offended by it being Lena who’s telling him than at what she’s actually saying, which makes Lena huff, “unbelievable.”

The cab arrives seconds later and Lena’s tucking Andrea into the back seat, handing a wad of cash to the driver and sending them off with the school’s address like anyone in Midvale needs clarifying when she describes it as ‘the posh school on the hill’. 

Thankfully, James has backed off to stand with another jock looking boy, both of them frowning at her. 

Lena rolls her eyes at them, turning her attention on the smug face of Veronica, who’s been watching the whole interaction. She storms over, grabbing her wrist tightly and dragging her into the house, up the stairs, and into an empty bathroom. Not even bothering to lock the door, she releases the taller girl’s wrist and pins her with her perfected Luthor glare. 

On anyone else, the look would leave them cowering. But Veronica is the result of two asshole parents and heaps of privilege, just like Lena, so she just pushes past her to get to the sink. 

“Did you tell Andrea about us?” Lena asks, her jaw clenched. 

Veronica scoffs in reply, pouring a line of coke onto the sink counter and bending down to snort it up. 

“Seriously Veronica?? We’re not fifteen anymore. You need to stop that,” Lena snaps. 

“Mmm, no. I guess we aren’t fifteen, are we? I suppose you’re not even sixteen anymore either Luthor. Happy Birthday, it is today right?” Veronica gives her a false smile, all teeth, her eyes catching on the hickey on the brunettes neck as she walks forward. 

Her smile quickly falls, and she clenches her jaw, stepping into Lena’s personal space. “Moved on quickly huh Lena?” she whispers, her fingers tracing the map of marks across her neck. 

“There wasn’t much to move on from,” Lena retorts. 

“Careful Luthor,” Veronica smirks and Lena can smell the whiskey on her breath, “I don’t think you’d like your mother to find out about what you do with Miss Danvers, but we both know I don’t have the same reservations.”

Lena’s blood runs cold at the thought of Lillian’s rage if she were to find out. Her mother could just about cope with Veronica and hers’ secret relationship; her mother wouldn’t touch the Sinclair’s only child. But Kara? Her parents are small time scientists from what she’s been told, Lillian wouldn’t bat an eye at ruining every Danvers’ life. Kara, Alex, Jeremiah, and Eliza. And Kara’s a fucking alien. What if her mother found out? What is Lex found out? 

Veronica giggles at her alarmed reaction. “Don’t worry Lena,” she teases, “I won’t tell. Not yet anyway.”

 _Is there anyone on this planet who can’t black mail Lena Luthor?_

“Not this Veronica, please,” Lena pleads. 

The taller girl’s hands shoot out and grab a hold of her hands, the coldness of her touch makes Lena shiver. 

“Don’t you see? This just what happens Lena. You’ve given me no other choice. You can do whatever you like with that Danvers girl for now, but you belong to me. We’re from the same world, _we_ make sense. You and that… what is she? A football player?” Veronica chuckles. “That’ll never work out. Your mother barley accepted us; what do you think she’ll do if she finds out about her? _It won’t end well_. Surely you know that.”

Lena hates that Veronica knows exactly which buttons to push. Because of course Lena knows it won’t end well. She wasn’t destined for a happy ending, it’s just a fact of her life. Something she’s known since the day her mother, her _real mother_ , died. 

Lena’s mind swirls with all her fears and insecurities playing on repeat. Being drunk has never felt like such as curse as it does now, with the weight of her eye bags and the phone in her pocket, code typed out for Lex within it, feeling like a tonne of concrete. 

“You belong to me Lena,” Veronica repeats, “don’t forget that.”

Just as Veronica’s reaching for the handle, the door bursts open. “Lena? Are you alright?” Kara strides in, coming to stand in front of her, like a shield. “Who’s this?” the blonde asks, like they both hadn’t seen her earlier. 

“Veronica Sinclair,” she introduces herself, “one of Lena’s friends.”

“You’re a friend? That’s funny, she’s never mentioned you before,” Kara says, her forehead creasing like she’s actually trying to think of any mentions of Veronica. 

Lena takes her hand, the warmth of it immediately soothing after having Veronica’s freezing ones in them. Kara gives her a reassuring squeeze, her eyes staying focused on the girl across from them. 

“That is funny,” Veronica agrees. 

“No. It’s not.” Kara steps forward. 

“You might want to put this one on the lead, Lena” Veronica steps back until her thighs hit the sink, “she’s a little feisty.”

“Ohhh, yeah, I think I remember you now,” Kara laughs, as though it’s just hit her, but her voice turns dark as she continues, “you’re the girl who’s nose Lena broke. What’re you doing up here?” 

It gives her a certain satisfaction to see Veronica shrink back slightly at the confrontation. 

“You should be asking Lena that question. She bought me up here,” she says, but answers the question anyway, “we were just talking about you, actually.”

“Oh yeah?” Kara asks, her voice dismissive and shoulders squared, “what were you saying?”

“Something about Lena’s family: how they’d view this relationship of yours, that sort of thing,” Veronica says, “just to warn you, before things get serious, Lena isn’t prone to commitment.”

“You don’t get to talk about her like that,” Kara spits. 

Lena wants to stop her, really. She does _mean_ to pull her back. But she doesn’t want to disturb this uncommon display of protectiveness, the way Kara’s muscles are visibly flexing, and her nose is flaring it’s like she’s one step away from punching Veronica into next-door. She gulps. 

“You think she’d protect _you_ like this? She is nothing like whoever it is you think she is,” Veronica scoffs, “you barley even know her.”

“No,” Kara says firmly, “you might know her _family_ and that world, but you don’t know Lena. Not like you think you do at least.”

“Well do you know what she used to do every weekend when we used to sneak out to go clubbing? Do you know how many schools she’s been kicked out of for getting high in the bathrooms?” she rants. 

“Veronica stop it,” Lena begs, but her pleading goes unnoticed. 

“Do you know how many of her parents cars she’s crashed drunk driving? Do you know how many piercings she has and where they all are?” Veronica gets a smug smirk on her face and Lena knows she’s going to be ruined. “Do you know how many times she’s fucked herself with your name in her mouth?” 

That’s the last straw for Kara. 

Her fist pummels towards Veronica’s head, but the other girl manages to dodge it. It goes through both the tile and plaster of the wall behind, leaving all three of them shocked for a moment before Kara tries to yank it out. 

Veronica manages to hit Kara in the face whilst she’s still pulling her arm free of the debris, and Lena gasps. Suddenly, with her free hand, the blonde nudges Lena behind her more. Veronica hisses after connecting her knuckles with the steel of the Kryptonian’s face, shaking out the effected hand.

As soon as her fist’s free, Kara uses it to wipe at where her face was hit. Her fingers come away bloody and Lena sees her eyes widen at the sight of it. 

“You’re going to regret that,” the blonde confidently smirks, and Lena’s knees threaten to buckle beneath her.

The next thing she knows, Veronica is slumped over, gasping for breath and Kara’s grabbing her shirt, forcing her to stay upright. Lena watches as the Kryptonian slaps her hard, and Veronica’s cheek is left with red finger marks. Then the ravenette goes to jab her knee into her opponents stomach in return, but Kara pushes it down and slams her back into the wall. 

“Don’t ever talk about Lena again. Don’t say her name, don’t talk to her, don’t even look at her. Do you understand?” Kara practically seethes. 

Veronica nods, pressing her hand against where she was hit and breathing shakily. Kara releases her hold slightly.

“Say it.” 

“I understand,” she rasps. 

Kara relinquishes her hold and completely steps back, taking Lena’s hand in her own again. 

When they’re leaving the room, Veronica says to her, “she’s fucking crazy.”

It makes Lena’s heart soar. Anyone that girl disapproves of is someone she wants to be friends with.

She lets Kara tug her from the bathroom, down the stairs, through the crowd of depleting dancers, passed the front door, across the front lawn, and down the empty streets until they can’t hear the booming music any longer. The brunette sends a quick text off to Sam and Jack, letting them know she’s leaving and allows herself to be lead deeper into suburbia with only their footsteps and crickets to listen to. 

“Kara,” Lena calls, but the blonde keeps walking, speeding up if anything.

“Kara!” she repeats, “slow down, you’re giving me stitch.”

Finally, Kara stops. It’s so sudden that Lena almost walks right into her. She’s glad she didn’t though, because from where she’s stood, she can see that there are tear tracks across the blonde’s cheeks and her lip is split open and bloody. 

“Kara? What’s-,” Lena gets cut off when Kara takes one stride forward and envelopes her in a bone-crushing hug. 

“I’m so sorry Lena. I’m sorry she said all those things about you. I want you to know it doesn’t matter to me. None of those things are who you are now, I’m sure of it. Even if they were, I don’t care. I like you just as you are. And I’m sorry,” her voice hitches on a sob, “because you asked me not to hurt her and I- _I did_. She was just _so mean_ , and she wouldn’t stop talking. She wouldn’t stop trying to make me hate you. But I could never hate you Lena, no matter what she says or what you’ve done. I’m sorry she did that to you. I’m sorry you even have to know someone like that.” 

“Kara, Kara, hey, calm down,” Lena pulls back enough to look her in the face, “it’s okay. I should be saying thank you to you. Veronica won’t come near me for the rest of my life because of you. I’m glad you did that Kara. Do you get it? I would’ve stopped you if I wanted to.”

The blonde stares into her eyes uncertain, but she takes in the brunettes seriousness and nods her head, squeezing Lena’s hands in her own. She still shakes with harsh breaths and Lena tucks her hair out of her face, wiping her tears away as she does. 

“It’s okay,” Lena repeats, looking at her feet shyly, “thank you for not hating me, I guess. I’m sorry you had to hear that. Veronica- … she’s a possessive person and she’s jealous of you.”

“Like I said, I could never hate you. Maybe strongly dislike, but never hate,” Kara laughs awkwardly her exhales still unsteady as they stand in silence for a second. 

“Not that it’s any of my business, but I’m guessing you and she are more than classmates?” she asks.

Lena chuckles, “we were sort of in a friend’s with benefits thing a while ago.”

“Sort of?”

“It only happened when I was drunk,” she admits, “when we were both drunk really.”

“Why did you stop?” Kara asks, sounding like she’s almost afraid of the answer. 

“My friend, Sam. She basically saved me. Jack too. She saved us both,” Lena answers earnestly, “she showed us there was more than just drinking, smoking, and partying in life.”

Kara grins. “Wow. Sounds like one hell of a friend.”

“She is,” Lena agrees, the realisation of how important Sam truly is in her life coming out of nowhere.

“I like her much better than Veronica.”

Lena laughs. “I think everybody does.”

“That’s good to know.”

They stand in a comforting silence for a moment, taking in their conversation under the night sky. Lena pulls in deep breaths of vanilla shampoo and the warmth radiating from Kara, keeping the cold away. Despite all the fears Veronica installed in her, the brunette doesn’t feel anything but completely content right now, in the Kryptonians arms. Like a moth to a flame, Lena couldn’t possibly force herself to leave now that she’s here.

“Is your lip okay?” Lena asks, pulling away again. 

“It’ll be fine by tomorrow. Just stings a little.”

“I thought Kryptonians couldn’t bleed.” 

Kara chuckles. “They can’t usually. But because of this,” she taps the bracelet on her wrist, tearing off some tape stuck to it to reveal a green glow, “kryptonite, my powers don’t really work. And the cut won’t go away fully until the sun comes up tomorrow.”

“Kryptonite,” she repeats, “isn’t that like- I don’t know- bad for you to wear all the time?”

Kara just shrugs. “My cousin gave it to me, so that I can play football and high-five people and stuff. It’s just until I get my powers completely under control anyway.”

“You don’t wear it during our tutor lessons,” Lena points out. 

“I want to learn to control myself around you,” she admits, her cheeks reddening. 

The brunette quickly picks up on her meaning and laughs. “That’s kind of you.” 

Kara takes her hand before she can further embarrass herself and leads them away from the middle of the road where anyone could spot them. 

-

After walking seemingly forever, chatting about all the constellations they can spot in the sky, and Lena freezing her ass off until Kara hands her the warmed-up flannel tied around her waist, Lena starts to believe the blonde might actually be lost. 

“Where are we going?” she questions. 

“It’s the long way,” Kara answers. 

“The long way to where?” 

“My house.”

“We’re going to your house?” Lena balks, imagining what Mr and Mrs Danvers would think of some alcohol-smelling teenager Kara’s bought in off the street.

“Yep. And before you start worrying, Eliza and Jeremiah have gone away to some science convention for the weekend, so they won’t be around,” Kara pulls her closer into her side as they walk, “I’d like you to stay over if that’s alright with you.”

The brunette smiles a pleased smile, “yeah. That’s more than alright with me.”

-

They practically fall across the thresh-hold of the front door. 

All the way to Kara’s house, they’d been relentlessly teasing each other. Kara’s hand sneaking just below the waistband of Lena’s skirt, fingers teasing the skin there, Lena licking her lips far more than necessary and reaching up to run her hand through the blondes hair, fingers raking at the bottom of her scalp, both of them stealing kisses when they have to turn or cross the road, slowly gaining more tongue and fewer lips each time. 

And now that they’re in the privacy of the empty house, all the restraint they’d been harboring goes quickly out the window. 

Kara walks them back against the door, neither wanting to pull apart as they go, and presses the brunette into the space between the two stained-glass windows. Lena gasps as her hands move down to her ass again, just like in the truck, except this time Kara pulls her skirt up to grip her there. The silky fabric is easily rucked up over her hips, and her lower half quickly exposed to the cold air where Kara’s hands are splayed out against the pale skin under her underwear. 

She whispers into her mouth, “so soft Lena. So _soft_ like this.”

The brunette can only whine in response. All the arousal from the journey here and from earlier when she was pinned up against the side of the house, and even before that when they were practically grinding against each other in the crowd of dancers, has come flooding back in, leaving her painfully tuned on. And she needs Kara to _touch_ her. 

“Kara,” she breathlessly says, “ _please_.”

But Kara doesn’t seem to hear her, too lost in palming at her ass and kissing her, wet and deliberate and _so fucking perfect_. Lena can feel her underwear starting to stick to her from how slick she’s getting just from that and it’s making her squirm. No matter how she pushes at Kara to find some friction, some relief, the blonde manages to keep herself just out of reach. 

_Two can play at that game_ , Lena thinks as Kara’s fingertips trace the outside of her underwear, sending jolts of pleasure up her spine. 

Her teeth graze at Kara’s lower lip when she pulls back from their kiss, and she feels the blonde shudder against her at the action. 

“Fuck Lena,” she sighs out, leaning back slightly. 

The brunette takes in how dishevelled she looks already, eyes blown with clear arousal, cheeks dusted pink and hair mussed from Lena’s hands running through it. She swallows thickly at the sight. 

“Let’s go to my room,” Kara suggests, her voice deeper than usual. 

At Lena’s eager nodding, Kara places her hands firmer against her ass and her feet leave the floor. She automatically wraps her legs around the blonde’s waist, pressing her core tight against her. Lena groans at the blatant display of strength and it circles into a gasp when Kara starts walking towards the stairs. 

The hard surface of her stomach provides Lena with enough stimulation, as she rocks her hips against it with each step, for her to drop her head against Kara’s shoulder and let out quiet, heady moans. With how ruined her underwear is, she knows Kara must feel the wetness against her stomach, even through the layer of her own t-shirt. And if she can’t feel it there, she must be able to feel it with how close her fingers are getting to her core. 

Before Lena can sit back to avoid staining her t-shirt, Kara’s setting her down on her bed and climbing over her, bringing their mouths together again. Somehow, their kisses are even more heated now, dizzying with their intensity. Kara takes control of the pace, taking her time licking into Lena’s mouth and brushing their reddened lips against each other, but her hands don’t slow to do the same as they rush down Lena’s body for the hem of her top. 

“Is this okay?” Kara whispers, pulling at the top to make her intentions clear.

“Yes, _fuck_ , yes,” Lena says, letting go of the belt-loops on Kara’s jeans and pausing in her grinding to let Kara balance on her knees more fully. 

She drags her top up so slow, pressing open-mouthed kisses to every new inch of skin that’s revealed, and Lena doesn’t have the time to feel self-conscious as it’s lifted up over her chest and thrown onto the floor because Kara’s staring down at her with hungry eyes, licking her lips and-. 

_Holy fuck_ , it makes Lena feel hot all over. She has to look away.

“Lena,” Kara says, almost reverent as her hands tuck a stray piece of hair behind her ear, “look at me.”

The deep, husky sound of her voice forces Lena to turn back just as Kara’s throwing her t-shirt off into some dark corner of her room, her sports bra coming off right after. She sits back down on her heels, throat bobbing as she swallows. Lena takes a moment to take all of her in.

If she had any doubts about Kara’s Kryptonian ancestry, they’d all be diminished now at the sight of the other girl’s goddess-like physique in the moon-lit room. She reaches up and let’s her fingers trail along the slope of her breasts, down to her nipples and Kara’s mouth falls open, a breathy sound falling from her lips. 

The sudden urge to flip them washes over her, but just as she’s working up the strength to do it, Kara reaches down and unclips her bra. The blonde tugs it free from her shoulders and it falls away, and then Kara’s eyes are _wide, wide, wide_ , her mouth forming a silent _oh_. 

Lena doesn’t get the chance to explain how sensitive her nipples are and why they have piercings and how she understands they might make Kara uncomfortable because they definitely made _Veronica_ feel that way, before Kara’s mouth is on her, lips enveloping her right nipple, tongue swirling over the bud, like that’s what she was born to do.

Lena’s back arches off the bed, a strained moan tumbling out, and her hips buck up against Kara’s. The blonde groans in response which sends vibrations across her chest, making Lena’s legs quiver. 

Never before has anyone ever touched her like this. In the past, her hook-ups had always been too quick to really get completely undressed and whenever she’d get this far with Veronica, the other girl would always stay away from her chest- she never forgave Lena for getting piercings _there_ , she said she’d ruined herself.

But now, with how Kara’s practically lapping at her, making her feel worshipped, her other hand coming up to palm at the neglected breast, Lena’s never felt so turned on, so wanted. She never knew what she was missing: the pleasure that shoots straight to her core with every graze, every lick, making Lena see stars and moan _so good, so good, so fucking good Kara_ , for the whole neighborhood to hear.

And god, she can see how much it’s affecting the blonde. Her whole face is flushed red as she looks up at Lena, breathing heavily. The eye contact is too much, Kara making sure she’s watching as her tongue darts out to lick a wet stripe across her nipple and then blow cold air on it. 

Her eyes roll back then, head falling into the soft cushion, and a gurgled moan slips from her mouth. She’s _so close_ , it’d barely take a direct touch to send her over the edge now.

Desperate need rears its head and Lena clenches around nothing when Kara takes her back into her warm mouth.

“Kara,” she cries out, “no more teasing, god, I need you to _touch me_.”

In response, Kara shuffles herself so that she’s sat between Lena’s legs, their stomachs touching, mouths hovering inches apart. 

“Tell me,” she says, firm but quiet, “tell me what you need.”

“Your fingers,” Lena rushes out, “inside. I need you inside.”

Kara’s breath stutters and she groans at the images that sentence creates in her mind. Her hands reach down to tug Lena’s panties off her legs. They get thrown onto her desk, knocking something over as they land. Neither of them cares to turn around and check it. 

At the sight of Lena spread open, pink and wet, Kara starts to salivate. She can _smell_ her and practically taste the brunette in the air. It makes her giddy with pure want. Kara forces herself to tear her eyes away, lest she give in to the urge to duck down and _taste_ , instead of giving her attention to her fingers sliding up Lena’s thigh. 

One of her fingers soon glides through the slick heat that’s gathered between her legs, making Lena’s breath hitch. Kara moves to circle around her clit, purposely not touching it yet, and then she glides back down to her entrance. 

“Kara,” Lena groans out throatily. 

“I’ve got you, Lena,” she promises, “just wanted to take my time with you.”

The tip of her finger pushes forward easily and slides in slow, deep into the silky warmth of her core. Lena gasps into her neck as Kara whispers dirty nothings. 

“More," Lena whines. 

Kara adds another finger and Lena throws her head back at the stretch. “So good, so good,” she moans out as Kara starts pumping her fingers in and out. 

“Faster, _oh god_ ,” Lena writhes on the bed, legs spreading wider for better access. 

Kara speeds up, her mouth coming down to suck at whatever skin she can reach, leaving a path of purple and red marks in her wake. Lena looks absolutely wrecked, her hands grabbing Kara’s shoulders as the lewd wet noises grow with every thrust of her fingers. 

Lena can feel herself tightening around the digits, her hips rocking up in time with Kara’s movements, mouth wide open and head thrashing on the pillow. She’s never been so thoroughly fucked like this in her life and it’s bringing the most pornographic sounds out of her. 

She’s so close, and then Kara curls her fingers, hitting that untouched spot inside her twice, and pressing her thumb on her clit roughly seconds later. The coil in her stomach comes undone and she releases a loud filthy moan, hands digging hard enough into Kara’s shoulders that they’d draw blood on anyone else. Kara’s relentless, drawing it out with her steady thrusts and rubbing at her clit in tandem. 

It’s _so much_ better than anything else she’s ever felt. It’s like she’s running after doing nothing but walk her whole life. It’s like flying when all she’s ever done is fall. 

Right here with Kara surrounding her in every direction, she’s never felt so perfectly ravished. 

And just as Lena’s coming down from her orgasm, Kara flicks at her sensitive nipples with the tip of her tongue, and Lena’s plunging straight into a second. Her legs shake with the force of it, eyes screwed shut and breathes coming hard. Her throat goes hoarse with how loud she’s moaning. 

Eventually, Kara pulls out and rolls off, knowing her body heat can get a little much afterwards, and runs her hand across smooth skin. Lena lays still until the aftershocks running through her die down, Kara happily circling her clit to steadily bring her down, and eventually she starts to feel her legs again. 

The blonde pulls her in close as both of them catch their breath. “You’re so pretty when you come for me Lena,” she says on an exhale, “makes me want to see you like that every day.”

Lena chuckles between pants, “that can be arranged.”

Kara nestles her closer with her wet hand on the brunette’s ass, humming happily. They lie in silence for a while, Lena’s hips squirming occasionally and Kara playing at the inky wisps of her hair. 

That is until they’ve both fully caught their breaths and Kara breaks the silence with a cheeky quip. 

“So… you have four piercings then?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was my first smut scene if it wasn't obvious, anyways it's gonna continue into the next chapter because it was getting LONG 
> 
> That'll probably be out mid next-week


	14. Anytime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a millisecond of smut and fluff before things go to shit- I'm sorry in advance 
> 
> Warning for mentions of drug usage and (angry) strong language

Lena hits her arm and scoffs, her eyes finally fluttering open. 

“And I thought you didn’t care about what Veronica said,” she teases. 

Kara’s quick to defend herself, a smile still on her face, “I don’t! I was just a little surprised and…. maybe a _tiny weeny smidge bit_ jealous.”

Lena nestles closer, “you’ve got nothing to be jealous of, you know that right? Me and Veronica was a huge mistake.”

“I know. I just- I can’t help it. I wish I weren’t jealous, it’s an ugly feeling,” Kara says, absentmindedly playing with Lena’s silky-soft hair. 

“I don’t mind Kara. Everyone gets jealous sometimes,” Lena reassures her, “anyway. You were wrong about the piercings. I have seven, not four.”

“ _Seven_??” Kara yelps, half from actual shock and half from Lena’s hand unexpectedly cupping her over her jeans. 

“Two in my right ear, three in my left, and two… well, you know where,” Lena explains as she leans over to kiss at Kara’s neck, her voice taking on a deep and lusty tone.

The blonde groans, her own hands moving to the brunette's hips. 

“Are you going to get more?” she asks.

“Mmm, maybe. I haven’t really thought about it,” Lena answers between kissing at her collar bone. 

“Either way,” Kara breathes, “it was a very nice surprise.”

“You’d be the first to think so,” Lena replies noncommittally. 

The red marks Lena sucks into golden skin disappear by the time she’s made a new one, and she can’t help but wish that weren’t the case. She wants to be able to see the evidence of their coupling on Kara’s skin tomorrow. She knows she’s covered in marks of her own and she wants to be able to do the same to Kara. 

But there are other perks, she supposes, of being with an alien. Like how Kara’s split lip has already healed to the point of it scaring over in under an hour.

More than wanting to give Kara hickeys or kissing her battle-scarred lip though, Lena wants to give the fidgeting girl _relief_. So she unbuckles Kara’s belt, undoes the jean button, and unzips her fly, sitting up to strip her trousers away. 

Lena shuffles down the bed so that she’s pushing Kara’s legs apart with her thighs, the wet patch in the crotch of the blonde’s briefs apparent enough. 

It makes Lena flush with helpless desire. 

She leans down, hands coming out to pin Kara’s torso to the mattress, sculpted muscles tensing beneath her fingers as she does, and stops when her mouth is a breath away from Kara’s covered core. Lena’s desperate to taste, to touch, to tease. She hooks her fingers over the waistband of Kara’s underwear, ready to pull them down. 

But she hears the blonde shakily exhale and looks up instead.

“Is this okay?” she asks, calm and unperturbed. 

Kara nods, but her eyes are wide, and her hands are gripped too tight in the bedsheets for someone who’s not yet been touched where it really counts yet. 

Lena sits up, her hands indulgently sweeping across the blonde's chest in an attempt to reassure her. 

“Hey, we don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. It’s ok-,” Lena starts. 

“No, no. I want to,” Kara interrupts, “I do.”

“Kara,” Lena moves her hands away and closes her legs slightly, “you can say no if you’re-.”

“It’s not that,” Kara assures and Lena’s brows furrow in confusion. “It’s just,” she continues, “I’ve never- nobody has ever- nobody- nobody’s ever gone down on me before.” She looks down at her fidgeting hands where they’re burrowed in the messy sheets and takes a deep breath. “The girls I’ve been with, in the past- they weren’t too interested in reciprocating,” Kara explains. 

“What? Why not?” 

“I don’t know. They were all ‘straight girls’, you know? I guess that’s just how it is in a small town. There are like three gay people here and one is my sister and the other is her girlfriend. So, most girls I’ve… _done it_ with don’t want to do anything like _that_ to me.”

“Oh,” Lena replies, because, sure she’s grown up repressed and scared into the closet, but she’d always had the freedom to find others in exactly the same position because of her parent's lack of interest in her social life. 

It’s not even something she’s ever thought about before. Why would she of when she grew up in Metropolis, a city where you can cross the street and be amongst a completely new set of strangers and not Midvale, where you can’t even order a drink without the whole town knowing about it?

“So, I’m just saying, I don’t expect you to want to do anything for me,” Kara clarifies, "it wouldn't be the first time." 

“What? No. Kara, of course, I want to. I want to do so much to you,” she leans back down and spreads her legs again, “ _god do I want it_. The only thing that would stop me is if you don’t want it just as much. So… do you?”

She slips her fingers back beneath the waistband and looks down, non-expectant and unjudgmental. Just waiting for a response, and willing to wait all night if that’s what it takes because she can see the conflict behind those blue eyes. 

Eventually Kara nods.

“I need you to say it.”

“I want it.”

“But?”

“But nothing. _I want it_ ,” she says firmer, more sure this time, “just… go slow?” 

Lena gives her a gratified smile, “we can do slow. We can do anything you want.”

The brunette slips down and gives her a long unrushed kiss, both of them easily falling back into it with ease.

“If you want me to stop, just let me know,” Lena says and Kara nods.

Kara lays back in the bed, her muscles relaxing as Lena runs her hands over them and gasping quietly when she makes her way back down the bed slowly: where Kara would lay kisses wherever she could on Lena's body, Lena prefers to run her tongue along the ridges of Kara’s muscles, feeling them jump beneath her tongue. 

Eventually she gets back down to Kara’s light blue boxer-briefs, deciding the blonde’s been teased enough when she sees how wet Kara is through them, and pulls the flimsy material away. It leaves Kara split open and twitching in front of her. Lena was right in her assumptions about the teasing because Kara is practically _dripping_. 

She lifts the blonde's legs over her shoulders so that Kara’s thighs bracket her head and her calves rest on her back when she ducks down. Lena glances up at the blonde one last time, just to make sure, and _Jesus_ what she sees turns Lena on like she didn’t just have two of the best orgasms of her life. She groans at the sight of her, Kara’s chest rising steadily, eyes locked on Lena’s with her lip between her teeth and squirming each time Lena’s warm breath ghosts over her core.

She licks directly through Kara then, quickly closing her eyes to savour the gentle taste of the Kryptonian as Kara’s muscles tense beneath her fingers. Lena wants to pull back and tell her how good she tastes and how good she’s doing, but she can’t tear herself away from the slick mess now. 

It’s- god, _it’s addicting_. 

Keeping the pace slow, she presses her tongue against Kara’s clit and circles back to her entrance, only slightly dipping into the slick that’s gathered there- the slick that must be all across her chin by now.

She hears the sounds of Kara whining and moaning above her, muffled by the thighs bracketing her head and the lewd wet noises she’s creating as she speeds up with her tongue.

“Faster, yes, _yes, faster_ ,” Kara’s gasping with her eyes closed. 

The sheets all around her are being scraped up by the Kryptonian’s hands as she scrambles around to grip onto anything, pulling them up from where they’re tucked under the mattress, and all of Kara’s muscles slowly get more and more tensed as she climbs towards her climax. 

“Rao, fuck, _fuck_ ,” Lena hears being stuttered out, “ _Lena_. Don’t stop, oh shittt- _dontstopdontstopdontstop_.”

The blonde’s hands come down heavily on her head, griping hard enough in her hair for Lena to be glad Kara’s wearing her kryptonite band. 

She does as she’s told and doesn’t let up on her assault- if anything she goes faster. Lena moves with Kara’s rolling hips, even when they jump each time her tongue presses particularly heavy on her clit. 

The brunette switches between swirling her tongue over the neat bundle of nerves and dipping down a little further to where Kara’s sweetest, unsure of which she likes doing best. Because Kara’s legs buckle especially hard and her heels dig into Lena’s rib cage whenever she pushes the tip of her tongue further inside of her, so hard that Lena knows there’ll be bruises there tomorrow, but the way her taste buds sing at the sweet juices that she tastes at her opening and Kara’s reaction to her appreciation each time it spills onto her tongue tells Lena it’s the place she likes best. 

Although _right now_ , as Kara’s legs begin to shake and her obscene moans reach their crescendo whilst Lena’s mouth works at her clit, Lena knows that that place must be the place she likes best. Nothing could take an orgasm quite as high without it. 

Lena was pretty sure she was a bottom before this moment. (Not that she really ever had the chance to work it out in the past because with Veronica it was _whatever Veronica needed, she got_ \- whether that was to fuck or be fucked and any other hook-ups she had, had been too short to really be sure.) _Anyway_ , Lena _was_ sure she was a bottom, but doing this to Kara and nothing else every time they have sex in the future is so starting to appeal to the dominant side deep within Lena’s consciousness right now. 

And then Kara’s coming into her mouth, a final strangled moan falling from her lips. And that moment Lena knows for certain that having sex with women, _loving women_ can’t be wrong. 

The thought comes out of nowhere really, an afterthought to the moment, but still- it’s there. 

Because how could something as cathartic and invigorating as this ever be wrong? 

Lena guides Kara through a long series of aftershocks even as her jaw begins to ache, the blonde panting and dopily rolling her hips against Lena’s mouth slowly. 

“You okay?” Lena asks when she sits up, a smirk on her face and slick covering her chin. 

Kara’s eyelids are drooping and she’s smiling lazily, reaching out for Lena. 

“C’mere,” she says. 

Chuckling, Lena pulls the quilt out from underneath them both easily, flipping it onto the dry side and wrapping it around them both as she snuggles up to Kara’s warm body.

Kara presses a kiss to her forehead and Lena smiles happily as she smooshes her face against the blonde's chest. 

“You’re perfect Lena,” Kara says sleepily, “thank you for that.”

Lena just laughs and says, “anytime.”

“Is that a promise?” Kara manages to tease.

“If you want it to be,” she says, licking Kara’s taste from her lips. 

The blonde makes a noise of agreement and relaxes further into the mattress. 

“Goodnight Kara,” Lena whispers, “thank you for making today special.” 

Beneath her the blonde’s body stiffens and she mumbles something along the lines of _dammit nearly forgot_. 

“Wait here,” Kara instructs, and untangles herself from both Lena and the sheets. 

“Mmmnoo,” Lena whines as her pillow is taken away.

“I’ll just be a sec,” Kara assures her as she pulls on a t-shirt and some sleep-shorts, “don’t fall asleep.”

The door clicks shut before Lena can protest any further. 

For a second, she considers laying back down, but she knows she’d inevitably fall straight asleep with how tiring today’s been, let alone the last week. So, instead, she clambers about Kara’s room in search of her clothes. 

Finding her bra and ruined underwear where they’d been flung onto Kara’s desk, Lena drops them on top of her shoes after taking one look at them and deciding they need a thorough wash before being worn again. She goes to look for her skirt and top next, but with how messy the Kryptonian’s bedroom is, she doubts she’s going to find _them_ let alone her socks or the missing hair tie from her wrist. 

Luckily for Lena though, there’s a pile of freshly laundered clothes on Kara’s desk chair for her to choose from. 

When Kara arrives back, Lena’s already settled back under the covers, this time dressed in a baggy sweater with the superman logo on the front and a pair of Kara’s striped boxer-briefs. The blonde immediately notices the change and she finds herself abruptly stopping on her walk to the bed. 

“You look good,” she states. 

“You like this, huh?” Lena smooths down the sweater smirking. 

Kara gives her a slow once over, checking her out, and then nods. The way her pupils visibly dilate makes Lena’s cheeks heat up so much that she thinks she might actually be blushing. “Yeah,” Kara replies, her voice deep and gravelly. 

_Noted._

“What’s that?” Lena asks, changing the subject to whatever it is Kara’s holding behind her back.

“Surprise,” Kara whisper yells.

In her hands is a small plate with a single square of flapjack on it, a candle sticking out of the top. It makes Lena laugh. 

“What’s this for?” she asks because _how could Kara know it’s her Birthday?_

“I, um, I bumped into Jack and Winn on my way to find you earlier, at the party, and Jack mentioned that you’re turning seventeen today,” Kara explains, “so- erm, Happy Birthday.”

Her face shifts from uncertain to that crooked, confident grin and Lena bites her lip. 

Nobody has ever managed to make her feel as wanted as she does right this moment with Kara sitting in front of her, the birthday flapjack piece held out for her, with sex mussed hair. 

Lena can’t remember ever having a birthday cake before, but she’s seen enough movies and been to enough childhood birthday parties to know the drill. So when Kara says, “make a wish”, Lena closes her eyes, blows out the candle, and wishes for her birthday to be like this every year. 

-

The first thing she registers the next morning is the smell of Kara’s vanilla shampoo. Everywhere.

She burrows further into the comforting smell and the softness of the pillows, a happy smile on her face. 

For the first time in what feels like weeks, she got a full night’s sleep without being plagued by nightmares. It was a peacefully dreamless sleep. She’s more than okay with sleeping the whole day away if it means she gets to be surrounded by the fragrance of Kara’s vanilla shampoo and the safety of her weighted blanket, so Lena nestles into the warmth of the sheets and begins to drift back off.

In her last moment of wakefulness, all the memories of last night come rushing back to her and Lena reaches out to pull Kara closer. But quickly realises she’s alone in the bed. 

And she doesn’t like _that_.

Sitting up, Lena looks about the room to find it empty, the only difference from how it was last night being that the door is cracked open very slightly. 

Now that she’s away from Kara’s pillow where the smell of her shampoo is most concentrated, Lena picks up on the more overwhelming scent of something sickly sweet drifting in, making her mouth water. That settles it then, her decision is made. 

Lena wants to be wherever Kara is, and wherever Kara is is likely to also be the place where that smell is coming from. 

-

Lena stumbles into the kitchen, wiping at her eyes, to find Kara stood at the stove- still in her pyjamas- and cooking tall stacks of pancakes. She heads in that direction.

At the sound of Lena’s bare feet padding along the kitchen tile, Kara swivels round, her face lighting up with a grin. “Morning beautiful,” she says when Lena gets close enough for Kara to pull her into her arms. 

And Lena’s heart predictably swells at the goddamn _petname_. 

“What time is it?” she asks, her voice raspy from sleep. 

“Almost eleven,” Kara responds and hands her a cup of orange juice and some painkillers, “I would’ve woken you up, but you looked way too cute so, you know, obviously I couldn’t do that.”

Lena drinks the juice, gulping the tablets down with it even though she doesn’t feel very hungover, and messily wipes her mouth on the back of her hand. 

“Mmm,” she says still not fully awake, “thank you.”

“No problem,” Kara replies, pressing a kiss to her forehead, “you want some pancakes? I made plenty.”

On the counter, there’s three plates with at least ten pancakes on each and five half empty bottles of golden syrup stood next to them. Beside that, there’s a jug (almost completely empty) of pancake batter and a mess of eggshells and milk all over the stone surface to go along with it. 

“Are you feeding the whole street with all that?” Lena laughs. 

“Nope. I need to eat 4,000 calories a day to maintain my _metabolism of steel_ , Alex has a big appetite after getting wasted, and I wasn’t sure about you or Maggie, so I made extra,” Kara shrugs, “and then some more for lunch.”

Lena laughs again, shrugging. “Perfect.”

Kara smiles back at her, quickly flipping the pancake in the frying pan. 

“How was your sleep?” she asks. 

“Good, I haven’t slept that well in a while,” Lena admits, “I think I’ll have to sleep with you more often.”

The blonde grins and turns to lift her up onto the counter. “That can be arranged,” she says, quoting bac her words from last night and nudging her way between Lena’s legs, “after all, it would be wrong to deny the prettiest girl at Mount Helena her beauty sleep.” 

“Well then,” Lena says, her nose ghosting over Kara’s cheek, “I guess-.”

The back-door slams open with a loud bang and an extremely grumpy looking Alex steps inside. Her eyes are closed and her ears are covered with bulky sound cancelling headphones, jaw clenched. 

Both Lena and Kara watch as Alex slowly opens one eye, and after seeing them stood there, opens the other. They look red and puffy, but neither of them comment on it as she throws the pillow tucked under her arm at them angrily.

“What was that for?!” Kara exclaims. 

“Shhhh!” Alex hisses, pinching her nose. 

They stay frozen in silence as she trudges to the fridge, pulls out the carton of orange juice, and sits down slumped over in one of the kitchen island’s stools. Kara gives her a worried glance and dashes off to hand her sister some painkillers of her own. 

Lena stiffens when Alex gives her a hardened glare, not looking at all happy to be in the Luthor’s company on this sunny Saturday morning. 

“Where’s Maggie?” Kara asks, whispering this time. 

Alex doesn’t reply, instead choosing to stare at her lap and drink the orange juice straight from the carton- an act Lena has _never_ dared to do at home. 

Fortunately, the pancake in the frying pan burning to a crisp lightens the mood and they all eat breakfast whilst teasing Kara about it relentlessly- both of the juniors overlooking Alex’s especially harsh words as she teases Kara more than necessary. 

-

Later on, once most of the pancakes are eaten and Kara’s mess is tidied up, Alex does end up having a go at them. Lena could practically see the anger rising in Alex ever since she came through the back-door, but Lena followed Kara, and Kara was ignoring her sister for the most part. 

They’re all sat watching some show Lena’s never heard of that seems to be a Danvers favourite, Alex sat in the armchair swaddled in multiple blankets as she stares at the screen glumly, and Kara and Lena cuddled up on the sofa, their hands clasped together on top of the blanket covering them. 

Kara keeps on braiding her hair and then running her fingers through it until the braid comes apart, occasionally tickling Lena’s neck and making them both laugh as she tenses up and wriggles to get away.

It’s ridiculous and if Lena saw anyone else doing it, she’d probably roll her eyes, but she lets herself have this. She lets herself be giggly and childish and _stupid_ for once because-

Because for once there’s no one around to tell her to grow up and act her age or to make fun of her for being less than mature. 

Or at least that’s what she thought until they were both laughing after Kara attacked her from the side as well as her neck, and Alex snaps at them, her anger finally boiling over.

“Would you two shut the fuck up for just one minute? I mean, was last night not enough? Do you have to ruin my morning too?” 

“Alex-,” Kara starts.

“No Kara. I am tired and hungover, and I had to sleep on the summerhouse couch because the bed doesn’t have a mattress yet, so my neck fucking hurts but I didn’t want to hear my younger sister fucking all night long. Fucking _a Luthor_ no less,” Alex seethes, turning her anger on Lena that moment, “she might have forgotten which family you’re from, but I haven’t. It’s not easy to forget when it’s _your family_ leading the campaign against people like Kara. You’re bad news and it feels like I'm the only one that sees it.”

Alex stands up, swaying where she stands for a moment and takes a step towards them. 

“All you spoilt rich kids are trouble, I don’t know how Sam puts up with it,” she continues, turning to Kara now, “you do know her family hates aliens right? They hate _you_ Kara, including this one most likely. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s telling her family everything it is that you’re telling her.”

“I wouldn’t-,” Lena tries to defend herself, but she’s cut off again. 

“I can’t stop you from seeing her, but don’t say I didn’t warn you when shit goes south,” she rages at Kara. 

“You don’t get to talk about her like that Alex,” Kara stands up then, “you don’t even know her. She’s nothing like her family and I don’t know what you’ve been reading, but Lena has never said anything against aliens.”

“Yeah, that’s only because she was too busy snorting ket in alleyways,” Alex spits, and then she storms upstairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I made Alex an asshole- it iss what it iss
> 
> Also, this chapter was sort of a mess (its cos I'm exhausted) so sorry about that, hope you liked it anyways.
> 
> Let me know if there's any mistakes.


	15. Worth it

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A deep conversation and flapjack.

They stand in silence for a minute, both too shocked to say anything. Kara by Alex’s unusual outburst, and Lena by her past fuckups being bought to light in such a bold way.

Lena knew she had a bit of a problem with drugs and doing reckless things, being an unwanted child with endless funds will do that to a kid, but she didn’t know it was something other people _knew_ about her. 

She’s sure Lillian would never let her time in the hospital after getting her stomach pumped or the reasons behind her many school transfers or any of the times she had to send the family driver to pick Lena up from the curb of the street she’d passed out on or the days she’d go missing when her and Veronica would skip school in favour of hotboxing someone’s basement reach the public eye. 

Her mother covered well enough for Lionel when he’d get home passed midnight stinking of whiskey. _Nobody could know the Luthor’s were anything less than pristine._ The brunette wouldn’t be surprised if Lillian were able to keep _all_ of her… ‘unapproved of’ tendencies under-wraps. 

She might have had a reputation for being wild in Metropolis, but it was honestly barley even that much of a reputation. People knew her as the ‘child-genius who gets kicked out of school’, the ‘piano prodigy who hates playing the piano’, or ‘the lesser known Luthor child who would rather be _anyone_ but a Luthor child’. 

Only people from her schools and the partying scene knew about her bad habits though. Her past times didn’t make it into the news like Lex’s reputable chess championships, or yachting club, or afternoons golfing, or public speaking, or extensive art collections. 

When she moved across the country to a new school in a tiny town outside a completely different city, Lena was sure she’d be able to leave that behind. The whole point of going to Mount Helena was a fresh start and a clean slate after all. The only remnants of her past lay in her and a handful of people’s memories, those in close proximity being Veronica’s and Jack’s- both of which are too smart to give away the information freely and to no personal gain of their own. 

_So how could Alex possibly know about her snorting ket in alleyways?_

And to add to that, Lena hates how much of what Alex said is true. Kara doesn’t know her family. How can she trust Lena _not_ to be relaying everything she tells her to Lex or Lillian? How can she be sure Lena _is_ a good person? Alex was right. Lena was too busy getting high to ever speak out against her family. She was too busy lost in her own problems to see all the damage her family was causing. 

Too busy with sneaking out and passing out. 

Even when she was falling apart, she wasn’t doing enough. And now that she’s learning to pick up the pieces again, she’s still falling short. 

It’s like Veronica said last night: Lena’s nothing like Kara thinks she is. 

_She’s just bad news._

Only when Alex bolts out of the house wearing her running gear do either of them move again. 

Lena’s voice is quiet and scratchy when she speaks, “I’m so sorry Kara. I didn’t mean to upset you or Alex.” 

“No Lena-,” Kara begins to reassure her, but Lena doesn’t let her get that far. 

“I’m sorry,” she repeats, looking into her eyes this time, “let me just get my things and I’ll go.”

“ _Go?_ ” Kara’s eyebrows furrow as she grabs Lena’s hand before she can walk away, “why would you go? We only just finished breakfast.”

Lena sighs, looking down at her fidgeting hands. “Alex is right,” she confesses, so quiet that only a Kryptonian would hear it, “I’m bad news. I’m trouble.”

“No. You’re not,” Kara says firmly, “I don’t know what’s gotten into Alex today, but you’re not either of those things.”

“How do you know?” Lena’s voice cracks as she holds back tears, staring at her hands. “You don’t know me. You don’t know the things I’ve done. You don’t know w-what my family’s capable of. You don’t know what they could do to you, or Alex, or Eliza, or Jeremiah. You don’t know what _I_ could do to _you_. Alex’s fear isn’t completely unfounded.”

“I do know you though Lena. You’re right about your past, I don’t know about that and I don’t know about your family. But I’ll tell you I don’t care about it _forever_ if that’s what it takes for you to believe me. Because really Lena, _I don’t_ ,” Kara rants. 

“You should. If my brother were to find out who you are… that you’re not from Earth… he’d- he’d hurt, you. He’d take you away from the Danvers. He’d ruin all of your lives. You should care because that’s what Luthor’s do to people,” tears start falling now and she wipes at them angrily, “they ruin people.”

Kara steps forward and takes Lena’s hands into her own. “Not you Lena. You’re different. You don’t hate aliens otherwise you wouldn’t be here right now.”

Lena’s whole-body shudders with a sob and her voice cracks as she says, “I still ruin people Kara. You don’t know what I’ve done.”

“Tell me then. I want to know all about you Lena,” Kara begs, squeezing at Lena’s hands. 

“You won’t like me if you knew everything about me,” Lena laughs bitterly. 

“It’s too late for that Lena. I already like you remember? There’s no going back,” Kara says it with a smile, the words from last night in the alley beside the house registering in Lena’s mind. 

“I meant what I said Kara,” Lena says, calmer but no less adamant, “I _am_ trouble.”

“How about you tell me about yourself first and I’ll make the decision on whether or not you’re worth the trouble?” Kara leans forward to press a kiss on Lena’s cheek, knowing she’s won this argument. 

So that’s what they do. 

Lena tells Kara about Lillian’s behaviour towards her growing up, leaving out some details that could get her mother thrown into prison, and about how Lex never did anything to stop her, but including how he’d comfort her afterwards. She tells Kara about Lionel being a workaholic alcoholic and about how he got sick. She tells Kara about her decent into rebellion against her family as a stupider teenager and all the things she hates about herself that she did back then and how she probably has the liver of a middle-aged alcoholic now. And she even tells Kara about how, when Lionel died, she only felt relief that he was finally gone. 

And not just because it meant he wasn’t suffering anymore. 

It was because she was able to leave the Luthor Estate and get to Mount Helena, away from her mother and her goddamn reputation. It meant she didn’t have to feel the absence of Lex as much and it meant that she didn’t have to behave like everyone expected her to, because nobody would have expectations for her because no one at Mount Helena would know about her reputation. She got a fresh start. 

Lena tells Kara about Lex’s hatred for aliens, about situations in the past when he’d talk about rounding them all up and sending them back into space, about all the xenophobic things he’d say and how extreme his views are. 

She could see Kara’s grip on the sofa tightening as she says it all. 

Her usually sunny disposition becomes nearly grey with each new piece of information Lena tells her. Lena knows that telling her is a mistake because _why would Kara bother with someone with a past and family as complicated as Lena’s? A family that would try to kill her if she found out about her._

Lena knows she doesn’t get a happy ending, but it’s still painful to see it happening before her eyes. 

“Do you get it now? I’m not worth it,” she whispers. 

Kara looks over at her with glassy eyes and a helpless expression. “Lena,” she says, her voice equally quiet, “I’m so sorry-.”

Fear rises in Lena’s throat and she stands up before Kara can continue. She can’t take this right now. She doesn’t want to hear Kara’s apologies. The panic that’s seized her chest forces her onwards and she climbs the stairs, making a beeline for Kara’s bedroom where all her clothes are. Tears spring to her eyes again and she curses herself for even opening her mouth. 

“Lena! What are you doing?” Kara calls, speeding into the room where the brunette is collecting up her own clothes and taking off Kara’s. 

“Leaving,” Lena replies, still in a haste to get changed so she can go. _Where’s that stupid blazer?_

“Hold on for just a second,” Kara demands, raising her voice enough for Lena to listen. 

She stops in the middle of putting her shirt on, her hands fisted around the crumpled material. 

“Why are you _leaving_?” Kara asks, seeing the girls wet cheeks. 

“It’s what you want isn’t it? You don’t have to apologise Kara. I get it, really, I do. It’s fine,” her voice cracks betraying how not-fine it is. 

“No I don’t want that. I won’t ever want that. Why would you think that?” 

“You-,” Lena falters, “you said you were sorry. And I just-… I don’t want to hear you say goodbye too.”

“That’s not- Lena,” Kara implores, “I said sorry because… I don’t know. Your childhood and all the things you’ve been through, it- I feel like someone should apologise for it because you deserve so much more, and I know your shitty family won’t do it.”

“Wait,” Lena says because her mind needs a second to catch up, “you want to _apologise to me_ after everything I just told you. You were listening, right?”

Kara chuckles, “yes Lena. I heard everything you said.”

“And you don’t want me to leave?” she asks, wiping the tear tracks away.

“Not ever.” 

“Even though I’m more trouble than I’m worth,” Lena says it like it’s a fact. 

“I don’t know about that,” Kara says with a slowly growing smile on her face as she walks closer, “you’re worth quite a lot to me.”

“Quite a lot of trouble too then,” Lena challenges even as her muscles relax and her beating heart slows down. 

“I think I can handle it.”

Lena would challenge her further, but Kara’s pressing a soft kiss to her lips and picking her up and she doesn’t feel inclined to stop her. 

“No more talks of leaving. Let’s have a shower, and then we can decide what movie to watch,” Kara says as she takes them both into the bathroom. 

They strip down and step under the warm spray of the water, Kara wiping at Lena’s red cheeks to wash away her salty tears. She cups Lena’s face in her hands and presses a kiss to her lips. Lena sighs into it, letting all her emotions from the last hour bleed out of her. “You okay?” Kara whispers between kisses. 

Kara knows about who she is, who she’s been, and she knows about Lena’s family, and- and she’s staying. She’s not leaving. 

“Yeah,” Lena replies. 

She deepens the kiss then, one of her hands moving to Kara’s ribs and the other sliding around her waist to pull her closer. 

She can feel Kara’s smile as they trade kisses. Both of them sigh and Lena slicks her hair back to keep it from getting in the way when Kara moves her hands down to the brunette’s hips. 

She pulls at Kara’s bottom lip, making her groan and spring into action. The blonde guides them so that her own back hits the cold wall of tiles, though she barely feels it, and Lena has enough leverage to grind herself on the blonde’s thigh. 

Her breath stutters out as her clit makes contact with Kara’s tensed thigh and her hands grip tightly to Kara’s shoulders. She lets herself adjust to the feeling, rocking her hips slowly back and forth over Kara’s thigh until her legs are shaking and every other breath comes out as a moan. 

If it weren’t for the water pouring down on them constantly, her slick would be smeared all over Kara’s leg by now. 

The blonde leans forward, Lena blowing the steam from in front of their faces with her harsh pants and gasps every time she rolls her hips with just the right pressure and her clit hits the smooth skin at the perfect angle. Kara captures her lips on every forward roll, their tongues only just ghosting over one another before Lena’s moaning again. 

Her legs are becoming weaker as she gets closer and for a second, she thinks she might fall before she can finish. She makes a breathy whining sounds as her legs begin to crumble beneath her, _she really can’t afford to fall when she’s this goddamn close_. Suddenly Kara is gripping her hips tight, practically lifting her off her feet as she pulls her forward against her thigh. 

It’s fast, inhumanly fast Lena thinks, but she barely can with all the heat running up her spine and licking at her insides. Her moans become so high pitched they’re verging on screams as Kara lifts her and drags her clit back and forth. She comes quickly then, all the heat that’s been growing suddenly reaches its peak and pools out of her, pleasure spreading from her core all the way down to her toes. 

Finally, Lena’s legs give away and she starts to fall. 

Within a millisecond Kara’s pulled her thigh back, spun them around, and hoisted Lena above her head. She yelps and looks down, once her brain’s registered the change, to where her legs are spread open on top of Kara’s hardly straining biceps and her mouth that’s level with Lena’s slick centre. She shivers both from the visual and her shoulders resting against the cold tiles. 

Kara slowly smooths her hand over the bumps of her spine as she runs her tongue through Lena in a broad, heavy swipe. 

She moans into the brunette, her eyes slamming shut, and Lena whimpers in response when her clit is pulled into Kara’s mouth and the vibrations make her hips jump. Kara seems to lose all her inhibitions then, her hands tightening and untightening where they’re on Lena’s skin, and she starts to properly fuck her tongue into Lena. The brunette’s hands fly down, not expecting so much so soon, one quickly gripping Kara’s shoulder and the other sliding into blonde hair. 

“ _Fuck_ ,” she whines out, rolling her hips in time with Kara’s tongue. 

Wet sounds soon follow, the sound of the shower dampens them but Lena’s still glad they’re home alone.

 _Really fucking glad._ She couldn’t keep quiet now no matter how hard she’d try. 

Kara meets her eyes as she slips her tongue out momentarily to gather up as much slick as she can from around her mouth and chin before dropping her forehead against Lena’s thigh and taking a few deep breaths. 

“ _So good_ ,” is muffled out, her voice sounding thick with tension, “mmhm.”

“Kara,” Lena breathes, her body writhing to get some sort of relief, “ _what are you-_.”

Her words turn into a drawn-out moan when Kara envelopes her clit between her warm lips and _sucks_. Lena’s back arches off the cold tiles and she jerks her hips. Then Kara’s tongue flattens against her so she can properly grind her clit against it. 

As Kara keeps her tongue flat and Lena rocks her hips, moans, and grunts sounding out from the both of them as Lena is taken higher and higher, they catch each other’s eyes. Kara’s are almost completely swallowed up by desire and lust, Lena’s are hooded, and she struggles to keep them open at all. But Kara, doing this, it’s something she doesn’t ever want to miss. 

Lena’s movements start to stutter, and her moans can be heard all throughout the house. She’s on the precipice of her climax, grabbing at tanned skin in desperation to be pushed over. 

And Kara does exactly that when she focuses all her attention on that little bundle of nerves, swirling her tongue around it, licking in small and broad swipes, and pulling it into her mouth with increasing speed. 

Lena cries out, loud and sharp, as she comes. Her whole-body thrashing above Kara’s, the blonde guiding her through her orgasm until she’s left panting and limp. 

“Sorry, I was just desperate to taste you,” Kara says, lowering her down to the floor, “couldn’t wait until next time.”

Lena chuckles breathlessly, “ _I’m not complaining._ ”

Kara beams at that, water from the shower washing the wetness from her face and she holds Lena against her chest for a moment. 

She lets the brunette catch her breath; the wide showerhead easily accommodates them both. Lena’s able to tilt her head into the spray and let it wash over her whilst Kara washes the vanilla soap into her hair and body. Once she’s rinsed herself off, she does the same for Lena, being extra gentle with between the brunette’s legs where she’s still sensitive enough to jolt whenever Kara’s fingers get too close. 

Kara steps out first, quickly drying herself off using some handy superspeed, and then wrapping Lena up in her biggest and warmest towel. She guides her to her bedroom where Kara gets her dried and into some of the softest clothes she owns- the superman hoodie she wore last night and some grey sweatpants.

Lena does mean to return the favour, honestly. She does. But all the emotional turmoil she’s been through in the last hour has exhausted her and she’s content with being practically carried back downstairs and snuggled up to Kara’s warm body on the couch beneath a million blankets, holding the Kryptonian’s hand as flicks though Netflix to find a good movie.

-

Lena’s woken by something tickling her shoulder. 

She cracks her eyes open just enough to see who’s fingertips are skimming her skin. She finds Kara’s lazy smile directed at her. “Morning beautiful,” the blonde says, her voice rough. 

The morning comes back to Lena and she sits up more fully, her eyes darting about to check if Alex has come home. Kara must notice because her other hand moves up to keep her seated. 

“She isn’t home,” she reassures, “Kelly texted me, she’s at her house. Something happened with Maggie last night. Something pretty bad by the sounds of it. Which explains why she was acting like such an asshole earlier.”

Lena hums in acknowledgment. They both relax back into the couch and Kara continues running her finger over Lena’s exposed shoulder in silence. 

Just as Lena’s drifting back off, Kara speaks. “How did you get this scar?” she asks quietly. 

“Huh?” Lena says, shaking the oncoming sleep away again. 

“This scar. On your shoulder,” Kara repeats, “how’d you get it?” 

It’s then that Lena realises, Kara hasn’t just been idly touching her skin, she’d been tracing the pale raised scar where Lillian had lunged at her with a broken wine glass. Lunged, aiming for her neck, and missing with the accuracy of a drunk. 

Lena remembers the night it happened so vividly: it’s one of her most reoccurring nightmares. 

It was the night she’d won her first (and last) ever chess tournament. For some reason, Lillian had been so angry Lena had even signed up to her school team that she’d refused to come to the tournament like everyone else’s parents. When Lena bought home the trophy, one she could hardly even lift herself, Lillian took one look at her with it and she just _snapped_. 

And that wasn’t even the worst part. 

After Lena had gotten stiches from the gash, lying to the nurse who did them by saying she tripped and broke a mirror, Lena had finally decided she was going to call the police on her mother. Do something to stop Lillian from tormenting her and _scaring_ her. 

But Lex caught wind of what she was planning- he found her burner phone hidden in her school blazer- and he told Lillian about it. Maybe it was because she’d won the one tournament he never did when he played chess competitively, or maybe it was because his mother’s love was more important than his sister’s happiness. 

Well, _half_ -sister. 

Whatever it was, she’s got the scar to remind her that Lillian doesn’t have a single maternal bone in her body to spare Lena and to remind her of the reason why she doesn’t trust anyone easily anymore. 

“It’s um, it’s from when I tripped and f-fell through a mirror,” Lena blurts out. 

She knows the lie doesn’t convince Kara from the way her eyes narrow slightly and she visibly bites the inside of her cheek. But Kara doesn’t press her on it, mercifully, and instead, her fingers move from the exposed skin to play with Lena’s hair. 

“You hungry?” the blonde suggests because _she always seems to know what Lena needs_ , “there’s the rest of that flapjack in the fridge.”

“I could eat,” Lena replies, thankful for the distraction it’ll provide. 

-

They take the tray of flapjack and sit back on the couch to eat it, the T.V sound turned down low so they can talk. 

Kara tells her all about the fundraising football game the Midvale lions have arranged against the Mount Helena panthers for next quarter. It’s going to be at Midvale, partly because Mount Helena doesn’t _do_ fundraising matches and partly because Midvale wants to show off their refurbished bleachers and field. 

The way Kara talks about it makes it sound like a big deal and Lena can’t help but get swept into the excitement too. 

“You are coming, aren’t you?” Kara asks, stopping her rant about bands and cheerleaders and greasy food. 

She asks it so vulnerably that even though Lena hasn’t heard about this game and definitely never planned to go to it, she can’t say no. “Of course Kara. I wouldn’t miss seeing you use these for anything,” Lena jokes, poking at Kara’s biceps that are on show thanks to the tank top she’s wearing. 

“Mmm well,” Kara smirks, “the senior quarterback has broken his ankle so there’s a good chance you’ll see them in action.”

The Kryptonian flexes her muscles and Lena laughs.

“It can be like a date,” Kara says softly, “if you want.”

Lena stops laughing then and looks at Kara properly. There’s a small sincere smile tugging at the blonde’s lips and she’s focusing pretty intently on a loose thread on a blanket. 

“A date,” Lena repeats quietly. 

“Yeah. I’d like to take you on one and the upcoming game seems like a good enough excuse to get you away from Mount Helena,” Kara rambles, “or not, you know, if you just want to go with your friends or whatever. It’s totally up to you. Whatever you-.”

“Kara,” she interrupts. 

“Yeah,” her head snaps up and she finally meets Lena’s stare. 

Insecurity is rolling off her and her hands are scrunched up over the blanket. 

“I would like to go on a date with you too,” Lena admits. 

“You would?” 

A grin splits across Kara’s face and she looks so hopeful, the insecurity melting away immediately, that Lena almost doesn’t continue. 

But she does.

“I would love to. But, um,” she can’t bring herself to say she’s gay, so instead, she goes for, “nobody can know I-I… like girls.”

It’s not that Lena’s… repressed or anything. It’s something she’s been working through for the last few months- being able to admit her attraction towards girls. Kara makes it easier. It's easier to forget all her instincts to run from what feels natural and easier to fight everything that Lillian’s embedded into her skull about being disgusting and going to hell. 

“Oh.”

It’s Lena who looks away now, fiddling with a stray piece of hair. 

“You’re closeted?” Kara asks. 

Lena nods her head slowly. 

“Why? If -if you don’t mind me asking, I mean,” Kara stutters. 

“My family,” she answers, “they sort of know, I guess. But they’ve made it clear that nobody else can.”

“Oh. I’m sorry Lena,” Kara says, “that’s… it’s not fair you have to go through that. Nobody deserves it. You don’t have to come to the game if it’ll worry you. We can do something else for our first date.”

Lena thinks about agreeing. It’d be the smart thing to do. But Lena’s mind unhelpfully supplies the image of Kara from a few moments ago, eagerly talking about the hype of game night and having Lena come to watch, and the _smart_ thing to do gets pushed to the back of Lena’s mind. 

That’s a problem for future Lena. 

“No, no. Kara,” Lena shakes her head and takes Kara’s hand in hers, “I’m definitely coming. It’s just… we’d have to keep… _us_ quiet.”

Kara considers it for a moment. “I’m not that into PDA anyway,” she responds. 

Lena laughs and squeezes the blonde's hand. “Really?” 

“Yeah. It could be fun even, you know, sneaking around,” she says with a ridiculous grin on her face that makes Lena laugh more. 

Before Lena’s aware of what’s happening, she’s fully seated in Kara’s lap and Kara’s lips are on hers. 

It’s a sweet, slow kiss. One with no intention of going anywhere, done just because they want to. 

Kara pulls away, pressing one more kiss to her temple and Lena smiles into her collar bone. 

“I’m going to miss you over break,” the brunette states. 

Kara hums in agreement and asks, “are you going home next week?” 

“Nope. I never go home during the school year,” she replies honestly. 

“Never?” Kara questions, sounding shocked. 

“Never. Not since two years ago when my father died.”

She doesn’t bother explaining that, even though she doesn’t go _home_ , sometimes she stops at Lex’s penthouse- whenever he isn’t too busy to receive her. He’s been busy for the past year though so there’s not much point mentioning it anyway.

The blonde pulls her in tighter to her body, burrowing her nose into Lena’s silky hair. As Kara opens her mouth to comment on that, Lena rushes to speak first. 

“Are you going anywhere for spring break?” she turns the focus away from her. 

Kara takes it at face value and answers, “only next weekend. We always go to this campground on the other side of National City during spring break. The Danvers have been going since Alex was little.”

It makes Lena feel fuzzy inside, picturing Kara sat around a campfire making s’mores and sleeping beneath the stars. Stars she knows make Kara think of her home, of Krypton.

“That sounds nice,” Lena says. 

“It is. We go hiking and swimming and Jeremiah has a friend with a boat so sometimes we go fishing too. Alex and me always compete to see who can get the biggest fish, and last year I thought I won, but when we reeled it in, my hook was just caught on a heavy bit of seaweed.”

Imagining Kara’s face when she pulls up a huge lump of seaweed and not a winning fish causes Lena to laugh. 

“No it was serious! Alex got so mad because she was just pulling up tiny fish and I caught something that almost broke the rod with how heavy it was, and then when it turned out to be seaweed, she almost pushed me in!” Kara tries to defend herself, but it backfires, and Lena just laughs harder. 

“Lena,” the blonde drawls out, grumbling. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Lena chokes out between laughs. 

“You don’t sound very sorry,” Kara mumbles, crossing her arms. 

Lena tries to catch her breath and stop laughing. Really, she does. “I am! _I am!_ It’s just, I can’t… stop thinking about how smug- how smug you must have been. And you-you,” she tries to say her thoughts, but every time she tries to get them out, she just breaks down laughing again. 

After a while, she notices Kara’s been silent. She wipes the tears from her eyes and glances up. Her breath catches at the look on the blonde's face. Adoring eyes and a soft, _soft_ smile.

It’s a look that’s never been directed at Lena before. 

A look of love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Sorry this took me over a month to get out and there's probably a tonne of mistakes. There was (still is) a crisis at work and all the school work I haven't been doing just caught up to me. 
> 
> Still, I hope you liked it and thank you for being patient :)


	16. What's wrong?

They watch a few movies snuggled up on the couch, Kara keeping a constant flow of snacks going as they do. By the time the sun is going down, Lena remembers the outside world still exists and she has to get back to it at some point. 

Pulling away from Kara, who fell asleep somewhere between _The Notebook_ and _Love Actually_ , Lena pulls one of the blankets tighter around herself and makes her way upstairs. 

Kara’s bedroom is messier than she’s ever seen it, her own clothes adding to that, and the neat freak in Lena resolves to clean it for her. At least, as much as she can before Kara notices she’s gone. 

First though, Lena collects up her own clothes up from around the room. She borrows one of the many tote bags hanging up on Kara’s closet door to put some of her… spoilt things in, and puts the rest of the items on, reluctantly taking off what Kara lent her. 

If anyone asks why she keeps the superman sweater on, she’ll mutter something about the cold weather that morning- despite being both indoors and in the middle of Spring.

Lena makes Kara’s bed, put’s all the pens scattered about in her pen pot, arranges her desk how Kara would have it during tutor sessions, and brings the desk chair back across the room to its rightful place under the desk. Then she hangs up some of Kara’s clothes, folds away some other clothes, and puts the rest in the washing basket by the door. And to top it all off, she puts all the football-looking things in the Nike Kit Bag, zips it up, and somehow manages to get it stored away on top of one of the closet shelves. 

All done. 

When she gets downstairs, Kara’s still asleep, the blanket having slipped off her slightly and her hair now fallen all across her face. Lena has to hold her chest where her heart palpitates at the sight. 

She also spots her missing blazer on the floor by the door from when Kara ripped it off in their haste to get to her bedroom last night. 

The red velvet goes into the tote bag with the other clothes because she wants to keep Kara’s sweater on at all costs. As she picks up the crumpled fabric, one of the pockets buzzes, and Lena pulls her phone out. 

Oh yeah. She has one of those. 

Lena’s reminded she has a social life too, because when she turns on her phone, she can’t help but notice the 50+ texts that pop up on the screen. 

Slipping beside Kara again, she opens her phone to the onslaught of texts. 

The majority of them are from Jack. Some texts are about Winn (most are about Winn)- Lena has to shut her eyes against the invasive thoughts some of Jack’s overshares create in her mind-, some texts are asking Lena where she is repetitively, and others are about how he saw Veronica walking back to Mount Helena with a bruise forming on the side of her forehead and she was holding her hand funny- that catches Lena’s attention. 

Last night is one crazy blur, but that confrontation is crystal clear in her memory. 

She reads over a text conversation between Sam and Jack, Sam assuring everyone that she got home safe and that she was waiting for them all with coffee in the dining hall. 

It makes Lena feel slightly nauseous to think about going back to being surrounded by Veronica’s and Andrea’s again, so she nestles closer to Kara’s sleeping form. 

What Alex said this morning hasn’t left her yet either, and nor have the questions the event brings up. She isn’t sure which of her friends told Alex, although if she had to bet on one of them, it’d be Jack. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s accidentally let something slip- it’s the reason why she entrusts her more important secrets with Sam and not him. 

She suppose he did already tell Kara about her birthday, how big is the jump from that to Lena’s fucked up past when you’re five Jager bombs in? 

These thoughts won’t help her find the answer. 

Lena sighs and shuts off her phone, letting it fall into her lap.

“Hey,” Kara whispers, her hand coming up to trace Lena’s jaw, “what’s wrong?”

Her voice almost makes Lena jump. She didn’t realise Kara was awake. 

“Just that I have to go back to school soon,” she replies.

Kara grumbles and her face adorably scrunches up in distaste. She can’t help but laugh at that. “I don’t want to go either,” Lena says.

“No,” Kara huffs, tightening their hug, “I’ll keep you here and if anyone tires to take you away, I’ll just laser their face off.”

Lena chokes out a shocked laugh. “Well then. I guess I’ll have to stay here. For the sake of people’s faces,” she mumbles, nuzzling closer now that she’s apparently staying a while longer “I do have to go back eventually,” she adds, and Kara shakes her head as her eyes drift closed again. 

-

This time, when she wakes up, it’s to a phone call. 

She quickly swipes to accept it, Sam’s face on the screen, and puts it up to her ear. “Hello?” she says down the phone.

“You weren’t at breakfast, so I went to your room and you’re not there either,” Sam says, not bothering with a hello, “I can’t think of anywhere else you’d be other than behind the shed or in the library, and Jack’s already checked so I know you’re not there... Lena, where the fuck are you? And don’t lie, stress isn’t good for the baby.”

Lena scoffs, “okay mom.”

Kara laughs at her response, having overheard the conversation thanks to her super hearing. 

“Who’s that?” Sam immediately starts interrogating her, “are you with a boy right now?? Is that where you’ve been all day? We’ve been worried sick all morning you know. We thought you were kidnapped! But you’ve been with a _guy_ this whole time??”

That just makes Kara laugh harder, and Lena can hear Sam huffing down the phone. 

“Who is he?” Sam demands. 

Lena wants to tell Sam, her best friend, about this new development in her life. The words are on the tip of her tongue. But then her brain reminds her that one of her friends spilled her secrets and, well, that keeps her quiet. 

“Nobody you’d know,” she replies, shrugging, “I’m coming back soon, don’t worry too much okay?” 

“…Okay,” Sam grumbles, and Lena can tell she isn’t happy about being kept in the dark.

“Thank you,” Lena says, “see you.”

“See you,” Sam replies and ends the call. 

She collapses back onto the couch, where Kara’s quick to wrap her up and pull her into a warm hug. “Gheez Lena, who’s this guy you’re cheating on me with? You’d tell your girlfriend if he was super-hot, wouldn’t you?” Kara smirks at her, “wait a second? Is he hotter than me? Please tell me he’s at least not hotter than me.”

Continuing the act and letting the ‘girlfriend’ comment wash over her like the sun’s rays in summer, Lena exaggerates a wince and shrugs, “I’m sorry to say but, he does have a slightly bigger dick.”

“Oh he does, does he?” Kara laughs, “how’d you work that one out, you know, considering my so-called-dick is non-existent?”

Lena cracks a laugh. “It’s about the energy,” she explains.

“There’s no way,” Kara chuckles smugly, “no-one’s got bigger dick energy than me.”

The blonde motions towards herself with her thumb. 

“That’s right babe,” Lena says, dropping in the pet name and keeping her voice deep and musky. 

She drops a kiss on Kara’s temple as well, leaving the Kryptonian spluttering and blushing as she chuckles. 

Lena has a _girlfriend_ , she thinks to herself with a ridiculous smile on her face as Kara un-pauses the movie. 

Not bad for a Luthor.

-

She does, eventually, make it out of the house. Kara let’s her go, but makes Lena promise to text her later, as well as insisting she wear her Superman sweater to ‘keep warm’ on the walk back. She remembers Kara’s reaction to her wearing her clothes last night and doesn’t bother objecting. Not that she would even want to. 

Lillian would combust if she saw Lena wearing a _Superman_ hoodie, she doesn’t want to consider what Lex would do if he caught her in it considering superman is the cause of his mania and obsession with ending the lives of all the alien species on Earth. 

Lena pulls down the long sleeves of the sweater so that they cover her hands.

Before her, the school gates open, and she makes her way towards her dorm room. 

As she makes her way across the school grounds, Lena notices people staring a moment longer than normal when they glance in her direction. At first, she puts it down to the mascara smudged around her eyes or her late arrival this afternoon, but with the way people are practically gaping at her, she knows it can’t be either of those. 

She speeds up her pace as one of the matron’s (cross securely around her neck) jaw’s almost fall off with how wide it drops open at the sight of the Luthor. 

Lena looks down at the clothes she’s wearing thinking that might be the cause of their gawking. But no. Her outfit is nothing too scandalous. Her skirt isn’t short enough nor her neckline deep enough to warrant this much attention. 

She runs a hand over her head, making sure her hair isn’t a complete mess. And it’s not. Even with the amount of times Kara brushed her fingers through it, it’s relatively neat and she knows it doesn’t look oily since she had a shower only this morning. 

And that’s when she remembers the hickeys on her neck. The _very visible, very obvious hickeys_ on her neck. 

Dammit Kara. 

A shy smile spreads onto Lena’s face as she ducks her head. 

It’s a strange feeling. If anyone else had covered her in an embarrassing mark, making it clear what she’d been up to last night, Lena would have lost it. Like Lillian used to say, ‘half of who you are is what people think of you’. She couldn’t be seen with a single blemish, and the huge purple bruise on her neck takes that notion and throws it off a cliff. 

Still though, Lena smiles and her hand comes up to touch the tender skin.

-

Once she reaches her dorm room, Sam isn’t there so she quickly changes into some more school-suited clothes, brushes her hair a couple of times, and rubs the mascara from beneath her eyes away with some make-up wipes so she doesn’t look like a panda walking around the school grounds anymore. She also, reluctantly, does her best to cover up the marks on her neck. 

And then, she makes her way to the back of the school to the Senior’s dorm block where Sam lives. 

Inside number six, she can hear people speaking and strange elevator like music playing. It’s Jack who answers the door, looking like he just woke up with the hair on one side of his head sticking up and nap marks across his cheek. “Morning,” he gripes, probably still hung-over. 

“Is it?” Lena responds to annoy him further- he doesn’t like it when she’s a smart-ass and they both know it’s well into the afternoon by now. 

She pushes past him, finally entering Sam’s room. The weird elevator music is playing on Sam’s phone which is propped up on a stack of books and she’s on the floor in yoga pants doing-

“What are you doing?” Lena asks.

“Pelvic floor exercises,” she replies, her voice strained as a woman from the video on Sam’s phone counts down from ten. 

“Why?” Lena asks, taking a seat on Sam’s desk chair and looking about her friend’s room.

It’s not as tidy as the last time Lena was here. There’s boxes on the floor, baby books on top of that, parenting books on top of that, and then a whole pile of doctor’s-office-looking leaflets on top of that. There’s a pile of clothes building up on a chair and her desk is covered in piles of work too. But her bed is still made up and her floor is clear- she hasn’t quite reached Jack level of disarray yet. 

“I don’t know. My doctor said future me will be thankful,” Sam explains as she moves into the next exercise. 

In her yoga pants, the tiny bump is clear, and Lena can’t help looking at it. She’s never known anyone who’s been pregnant before, and her friend does a good job hiding the evidence most of the time. 

“So… Lena…” Sam continues, “how was your night?”

“Fine,” Lena replies, spinning around in the chair to face Sam’s desk to avoid their knowing stares. 

“Don’t play coy,” Jack grins, throwing himself onto the bed, “you’re glowing darling, at least tell me you used protection.”

Lena scoffs, “please tell me _you_ used protection.”

“Oh shut up you two,” Sam rolls her eyes at them both, probably annoyed by her own lack of sex-life whilst going through a libido-high thanks to pregnancy hormones.

She turns to Lena after switching off her phone along with the awful elevator music, “so is there a chance this guy might stick around?” 

Jack, and by extension Sam, knew Lena was in a causal relationship with someone in the past- said person being veronica-, but they didn’t know about that someone being female. And with how things have turned out, she’s glad she didn’t tell them. 

Lena shakes her head as nonchalantly as she can. “It was just a one-time thing,” she says. 

“That’s what I said about this one’s father and look how that ended,” Sam snorts, motioning to the small baby-bump with her head. 

Lena laughs. “I didn’t even get his number so I can promise that’s not a possibility.”

_She supposes that when you lie as often as she does, it becomes as natural as tying your shoelaces._

“What happened to Kara?” Jack questions, “you two seemed awfully close last night.”

“I’m surprised you even saw, what with you and Winn groping each other all night,” she naps back defensively.

She sees Jack’s face pale slightly as he recoils as if he’d just been slapped in the face. 

Luckily, Sam doesn’t seem to notice, too engrossed in a leaflet she’s picked up. “Oh yeah! Alex said she saw you guys leaving together,” she adds completely unhelpfully. 

That must have been when they went to make-out in the side-entrance before Andrea’s out-burst. 

“We just went out to see that commotion, you know, t-the one with Veronica and Andrea,” she lies weakly, knowing that she’s blushing- and they all know she _doesn’t_ do that, “so are you and Alex friends now or something?” she blurts out, trying to get the attention away from her red face. 

Now it’s Sam’s turn to blush and stutter. “We’re just- it’s not- she’s just been being really nice to me,” she finally gets out, scoffing at herself and looking down at where she’s playing with her hands, “it’s probably pity because I have to basically drop out of school and disown my family.”

Lena slowly pushes herself across the room in her chair to take Sam’s hand. “Hey, don’t talk like that, okay? Me and Jack will be all the family you’ll ever need, and I thought you spoke to Principal Scott about school?” she asks. 

“I did and it’s fine,” Sam shrugs, “it just won’t be the same is all.”

The older girl looks up again, this time with a wide smile plastered onto her face. “But hey, we have all of spring break to worry about those things,” she says, cheerfully, “I hope you guys are planning on helping me move into the Danvers’ house.”

“Of course we are,” Jack replies, muffled by the pillow he seems to have collapsed onto. 

“Oh erm, whilst we’re on the topic of the Danvers,” Lena starts, “Kara texted me this morning. She has this big football fundraiser thing with her football team against the Panthers. I thought it’d be a nice idea for us all to go, you know, a break from studying and stuff.”

“Oh yeah! I think Winn mentioned that last night. He’s the photographer for the school newspaper so it’s a big thing for him too,” Jack sighs wistfully, “he even showed me his little camera. It has a strap that goes around his neck and everything. He’s so cute.”

Lena rolls her eyes and Sam throws a pillow at him. “Tone it down over there,” Lena cringes. 

“Yeah, not all of us are lucky enough to have boyfriends,” Sam joked. 

Jack just laughs and hugs the pillow to his body. Lena throws him an annoyed look over her shoulder that silences him. 

“So what do you think Sam?” she asks, “are you up to a football game?” 

“Of course. It’ll be like the old days,” Sam replies poking her head from around the doorframe of the bathroom, “except I won’t be doing any summersaults this time.” 

“God,” Lena groans, “I don’t know why you ever put yourself through that.”

Sam laughs. “It was fun!” she defends, “all my friends used to do it.”

“The outfits are pretty cute,” Jack adds. 

“I think my version of hell will be being forced to cheer,” Lena deadpans. 

Sam bursts with a laugh. “You’re ridiculous.”

“Just being honest,” Lena shrugs, a smile on her face, ignoring Jack’s tense jaw from across the room. 

-

On her way back to her room, Jack catches up to her despite her best efforts to get ahead and avoid him. 

“Lena!” he calls as he jogs to reach her. 

The Luthor continues onwards as though she didn’t hear him. 

“Lena!” he shouts again, this time more insistent. 

She whips around, if only to stop people from turning to look at her, suddenly enough that Jack nearly crashes into her in his rush to get to her. 

“Lena,” he repeats, breathless but just as chiding. 

“What?” she replies curtly.

“Why are you annoyed at me?” he questions. 

Lena should’ve expected his bluntness. He’s never been good at playing the long game, has always worn his heart on his sleeve. There was no waiting around to figure it out himself, he never cared for being polite when the same curtesy wasn’t extended to him. She supposes that’s more of a Luthor thing. 

“I bumped into Alex this morning,” she starts carefully, pausing to see his reaction. When there isn’t one, she continues. “She kept talking about some of the things we used to get up to. You know, some of the _illegal_ , _embarrassing_ things we used to do.”

Jack’s forehead crinkles in confusion, but his jaw is still tightly set. 

“So??” 

“ _So_ she thinks I’m some kind of wildcard spoilt daddy’s girl. She’s judging me exactly the way I never wanted anyone else to once I moved away from Metropolis. You _know_ what that’s like Jack. Don’t you remember any of the stupid things we did? We both came here to escape it, and you just went and told her all about it. You told _Alex_ , Jack! Kara’s _sister_ for fuck’s sake,” she blurts angrily. 

The emotions from this morning as Alex bared Lena’s soul for Kara to see come rising to the surface again, but Lena pushes them down. She forces herself to stay angry, and for the tears to stay at bay. 

“You think that it was me?” Jack asks, calmly, slightly deflated. 

“I _know_ it was you. Who else could it be?! You’re an honest drunk,” she lets out a wet laugh, “I can imagine Alex is a good coercer. You probably didn’t even know what you were saying-.”

Jack cuts her off, his voice quieter now. “You really think I’d do that?” 

Lena’s eyes snap up to his face for the first time since the argument begun and she sees the round disbelief in his eyes, his slightly slumped posture, and the vulnerability on his face. 

It throws her for a loop. She opens her mouth to respond, but nothing more than a pathetic throaty sound escapes and she shuts it quickly again. 

“Lena. The only time I’ve ever told someone one of your secrets was last night,” he pauses and Lena’s heart thumps in her chest, “it was when I told Kara about your Birthday.”

Wait.

_What?_

“Oh.”

That’s all she can think to respond with after she’s thrown abuse and accusations at her best friend. 

Because that means it was _Sam_. 

“Oh,” she repeats aloud. 

“I’ll bring the prosthetic plans over before I leave,” he says, looking intently at his shoes, “I’ve done as much as I can for it without your help.”

Then he leaves, and Lena doesn’t try to stop him. 

She’s done enough. 

She sighs at her own stupidity, bawling up her fists tight enough to dig the nails into her palms. 

And then the reality of what just happened sets in. 

She could handle if it were Jack, she’d perhaps even be okay if it were him. Jack’s like a brother- brother’s fuck up and you forgive them because that’s what family does. That’s what Lex taught her when he forgot her first piano recital and was late to all the ones after that. But it being Sam, it just hits her _hard_.

And, fuck, she just assumed it was him. Just assumed he’d do something like that. Drunk Jack with his loose lips and bleeding heart. Lena had wanted a fresh start for herself when Lillian sent her to Mount Helena- no-one judging her on her past mistakes. So why did she go and throw Jack’s in his face when he wants exactly the same? 

That’s Lena’s specialty though it’s it? Fucking things up. 

She can’t do it to Sam too. 

Sam.

_Why did it have to be Sam?_

She was her first real friend. Someone who didn’t become her friend because her last name got them into exclusive establishments or because their parents went to the same events. Sam was someone who took her seriously for the first time and who she could talk to about… girl things, normal things, things she never got the luxury to talk about before. 

And Sam just-

Sam just told a practical stranger about Lena’s fuckups and about the regrets she’d confided in her to keep secret. 

But it’s worse than that because Alex isn’t even a stranger, not like Sam probably thinks she is. Alex is Kara’s sister. Her _girlfriend’s_ sister, the most influential person in Kara’s life. And now Alex’s view of her has been smeared beyond what her surname already did. 

Lena finds herself outside the door of her dorm room, rushing inside and pressing her back against the door. 

Then she lets the tears fall. 

Fuck, fuck, fuck. Why does shit like this always happen to her?

Her legs give out from beneath her and she sinks to the floor, her head falling onto her knees as sobs wrack her exhausted body. 

She’s managed to mess up her friendship with Jack, and she supposes with Sam too. How can she trust her with anything again if Sam can break her trust so easily? Isn’t trust the most important valuable thing in a relationship of any kind? 

And, fuck, that code that’s sat waiting to be sent to Lex feels like a ticking time bomb in her pocket. It’s so loud that Lena chucks her phone across the room, where it hits her bed and falls against the floor. 

If she gets this wrong, thousands of people could die. Even if she gets it right and Lex finds out about her betrayal, it could- no, it _will_ ruin her life for good. 

The irony is, she knows if Lex didn’t laud Sam’s pregnancy over her, she would have refused to write the code in the first place. She doesn’t care about proving herself to be a Luthor. Not enough to risk her life as well as countless others anyway. 

Lena is risking everything to keep Sam’s secret when Sam couldn’t do the same for her. 

She’s laughing through her sobs by now. The ridiculousness of her situation isn’t lost on her. 

When did her life turn into such a shit-show? 

-

It didn’t take Lena much longer to rifle through her draws to find the half-empty barrel-proof whiskey she’d stolen from Lionel’s office liquor-cabinet after he’d died.

And it didn’t take much longer after that to pass out drunk, crumpled half on her bed, half on her sink. 

-

At some point, she remembers Andrea coming into her room and making her sit up to drink a gallon of water, prying the empty bottle from her hands and taking her shoes off for her. 

The painkillers, bottle of water, and briefcase (that contains the prosthetic arm) that Lena finds on her desk the next morning tell her that Jack had come by too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the kind words and kudos on the last chapter. It means a lot to me and I'm real grateful for it. XD
> 
> I was kinda in the hospital last month :/ (not covid related) and student life has been rough so I didn't get the chance to write this up that often. I apologise for it being late, and I'm still not recovered :( so I can't promise I'll have sooner updates next time. Thank you for sticking around this far with me despite it all though. 
> 
> And now for the angst...


	17. Tuesday

By the time she rolls out of bed on Sunday, Jack is already in the common room with his luggage at his feet. He watches on cringing as Lena stumbles into the room in search of him, her clothes rumpled and clearly unchanged from Saturday. 

He quickly makes his way over to her before she manages to embarrass herself any further, pulling her around the corner and into the hallway. 

“Mmmph,” she whines as her head spins, “too fast.”

“Lena. Why aren’t you in bed?” he asks pointedly. 

“Jack,” she says and then mumbles something as she pulls him into a surprisingly tight hug. 

He lets her hug him for a few long moments before untangling himself. “Lena-,” he starts. 

“Jack. I’m- I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to… I didn’t think-,” she tries to get out, but the alcohol fogging up her mind already makes it hard enough to think in full sentences as it is.

“Lena,” Jack sighs with a fond look on his face. 

It reminds her of Lex before Lionel died. “Yeah?” she replies. 

“It’s okay. We’ll be okay,” he assures, “I think we both need to cool off, we can talk more after break, okay?” 

Lena doesn’t really have a leg to stand on here, so she slowly nods her head in agreement. 

“I mean it, we’ll be okay. Just… give me over the break. I know why you assumed the things you did, but what you said still hurt me… you’re my best friend Lena. You’re practically my sister. We’ll get over this, like everything else,” he chuckles at that, “and we’ll be good as new.”

“Okay,” Lena replies, “I’m sorry.”

“I know. We’ll talk about it in two weeks,” he flashes her his signature Jack smile as he slips back into the common room to wait for his parents. 

Lena doesn’t wait around. Bumping into Veronica or Sam or Andrea or even Morgan at this point could lead to her passing out again, so she takes the short-cut down the service stairs and cuts across the grass-lawn to the dormitories. 

She makes it to her room mercifully uninterrupted and collapses on her bed, her chest feeling lighter with her and Jack on better terms as she drifts back to sleep. 

-

At first, she thinks the banging is just the throbbing of her head in response to getting black-out drunk. But, once she wakes up enough, she realizes that her hangover is pretty much gone. So the banging-

“Lena?” a tentative voice calls out. 

She buries her head against her pillow and huffs out an annoyed breath. She can’t wait to never cohabitate against her will again. 

Eventually, the knocking starts up again and Lena regretfully slides out of her bed grumpily. She pulls it open to reveal Andrea stood on the other side of the door. 

“Hey,” she greets Lena, looking sheepish and awkward with her hands twisted in front of her and a blush on her cheeks.

“Hi,” Lena replies, her brows furrowed as she tries to work out why Andrea is here.

“Erm,” Andrea starts, seeming to pick up on Lena’s confusion, “I’m just here to check that you’re alright. I came by yesterday to thank you for… helping me on Friday night, but you were pretty out of it.”

Now it’s Lena’s turn to look at the floor and wring her hands out. “Oh…. Right. That was- I was just-… I got some hard-to-swallow news,” Lena offers as an explanation. 

“Yeah, Jack said something like that too,” she nods.

The silence stretches out between them and Lena wonders if she should wrap this up before it gets any more awkward, but Andrea speaks first. 

“Are you not going away for break?” she asks, peering into Lena’s room and probably spotting that there are no packed bags. 

“Oh, um, no,” Lena answers, “spring break isn’t exactly a holiday so I’m staying here.”

Andrea shrugs, her face slowly lighting up, “me too.”

That confuses Lena further. She’s stayed at Mount Helena over break enough times to recognize who all the students who stay over during breaks are; Lena Luthor and the international students - usually including Jack. Andrea is neither of those things. 

“You are?” 

“Um, yeah. It’ll be my first time. Maybe we could do stuff together?” Andrea suggests.

“Like what?” Lena smirks.

“I don’t know,” Andrea rolls her eyes, “didn’t I just say it’s my first time?”

Lena laughs out loud, not expecting _that_ from Andrea. “Well… do you know chess?” she asks. 

“I could learn,” Andrea catches on. 

Lena considers it for a moment. “Alright. Meet me in the library on Tuesday after breakfast,” she says, closing her door. 

“Why not Monday?” Andrea asks before she can go, a smile on her face. 

“I’m busy on Monday,” Lena replies and then shuts her door. 

_Busy_ , Lena scoffs at herself as she opens up her wardrobe. Does potentially assisting a genocide count as being _busy_?

-

After flicking through Jack’s notes on the prosthetic arm and reading everything he’d done to market it off to pharmaceutical and engineering companies, Lena feels like calling him. But she holds off. 

He’d asked for two weeks, and she can give him that. 

Instead of calling him, she gathers everything that’s on her desk into her arms, deposits it ungracefully onto her bed, and lays out the prosthetic’s spreadsheets. 

If there’s anything she can do to ignore the looming threat of tomorrow’s murderous agenda, she’ll do it. Even if that includes doing maths with the remainder of a hangover. 

-

She’s not even halfway done with finishing her side of the prosthetic when she pulls up Snapchat, after fishing around under her bed for her phone. She must have dropped it last night. 

Kara sent her a photo of a puppy in the park from her run that she ends up spending too much time doting over, mostly to avoid opening the other text she received. 

It’s from Sam, probably wondering why she didn’t see Lena in the common room before she left, especially when Lena knows this will be a particularly difficult two weeks for her.

She debates just opening it and apologizing and feigning a stomach bug as an excuse. But she can’t just pretend Sam hasn’t left a gaping wound in their friendship, that it doesn’t feel like Sam stabbed her in the back and twisted the knife. It’s not that easy. 

So instead of replying with an apology or with venom, Lena ignores it. 

Just as she’s about to shut her phone off again, she gets another text. From Lex. 

It says _’I hope you’re not planning on leaving it to the last-minute dear sister. You should receive a text soon. Follow the instructions and everything will go smoothly. Have a nice spring break. LL’_. 

Not even a second later, another text comes through. This time the number isn’t one in her contacts and all the text contains is a link. She clicks on it and it takes her to what looks like the deep web. 

It takes her mere seconds to adjust, and then Lena’s reading the instructions telling her where to send her code, how to send it, how to encrypt it and how to break it down. It makes her nervous. 

Clearly, there’s someone on Lex’s side with a high enough level of understanding of computer science to set this all up, how does she know they won’t go over her code and find all the flaws within it? 

It’s too late to go back now though. Lena deletes her code from the text bar, where it was waiting to be sent off to Lex, and gets it ready to be sent through the deep web. She text’s Lex _’Monday’_ and gets back to working on the prosthetic again. 

-

She’s almost done with the prosthetic when she’s next disturbed. 

Someone taps on her shoulder and Lena jumps so suddenly, she almost drops the soldering iron she’d stolen from a Design Tech class onto her lap. She looks up to see Andrea stood in her room with two coffees balanced in one hand and the other held up as a peace offering. 

“ _Don’t do that_ ,” she scolds the brunette. 

“Sorry. I did knock, but you didn’t answer, and I came in, but you clearly didn’t hear and-,” Andrea puts a coffee on the corner of her desk and takes in the mess of Lena’s desk, “have you been doing this all morning?” 

She almost drops the soldering iron again when the words register in Lena’s brain. “It’s not Monday already is it?!” Lena asks, frantically rummaging through the papers on her desk to find her phone. 

“Err… yes, it is. Have you not slept since I last saw you?” Andrea says with a snort like the idea is ridiculous. 

Lena gives her a look that says, ‘stop talking’. 

“Wait. Hold on? You _actually_ haven’t??” Andrea’s eyes widen and a smirk begins to form on her face. 

Lena rolls her eyes and yanks her coffee cup from the table to take a long sip of the strong, boiling drink. 

“Wow. You, Lena Luthor, are not what I was expecting,” she breathes out a laugh. 

Lena rescues her phone from beneath a small stack of post-it-notes, decidedly ignoring Andrea for now. The home screen displays texts from Sam, Lex, and Kara. 

She opens the ones from Kara first. 

The first picture is of her and Alex setting off on a run in the morning. The next picture is from less than half an hour after the first one, it’s of Alex looking very red-faced and sweaty with her middle finger pointed at Kara. And the last one is of a puppy she must have passed on her way home, the same one that the blonde photographed the day before.

Lena doesn’t even realize she’s grinning like a madwoman until Andrea’s teasing voice comes from behind her. “Who’s KD?” she asks, peering over Lena’s shoulder to get a look.

Lena immediately switches over to her default, unassuming notes app. “Sorry?” she says as though she didn’t hear. 

“I know about you and Veronica, remember? You don’t have to lie to me,” Andrea states, sounding unbothered as she takes her own coffee and sits down on Lena’s bed. 

At that, Lena spins around in her chair. She picks at the loose threads on the arm of the old office chair as she speaks. “What exactly _did_ Veronica tell you about… all of that?”

“Just that you two used to fuck and that you could drink me under the table,” she says with a shrug. 

“…Is that all?” Lena hopes she sounds casual. 

“Well, she used to say you were down to do anything but now you’re a ‘frigid bitch’ and that your family is full of crazies, but I didn’t want to say that when we barely know each other yet.”

Lena scoffs and takes a sip of her drink. “Did you believe her?” 

“Of course I did. It’s Veronica for fuck’s sake. Anything she says is gospel.”

Lena takes a deep breath as she remembers all the times she’d just nod her head and follow Veronica around like a well-trained puppy whose owner knows the best street-dealers.

“But I don’t believe her now, obviously,” Andrea quickly rectifies, “you’re letting me sit in your room even though I nearly outed you to the whole school _and_ neighborhood. I don’t think a ‘frigid bitch’ would do that.”

“There’s still time,” Lena replies and spins back around in her chair as Andrea barks out a laugh. 

-

She’s left to battle with her morality for an hour or so after Andrea leaves her when she opens Lex’s text. It looked very angry and contained all kinds of threats, surpassing Sam and her baby and leaning more towards all the different ways to torture someone with a lighter alone. 

Lena rubs at the scar Lillian made on her wrist months ago and sends off the code. 

She then slides her phone back under her mattress for the rest of the day, ignoring anything more Lex has to say, and Sam’s texts along with them. 

-

When Monday rolls around, Lena joins Andrea in the library. She didn’t want to sit in the usual spot, so they’re sat at an old mahogany table surrounded by bookshelves instead, a chessboard in front of them and mugs of hot chocolate steaming beside it. 

“You should always have the black square to your left and the white square to your right before you set up,” Lena explains, “that’s A1 on your left and H1 on your right.”

She points to the corresponding squares on the corners of the board. “The queen always sits on her matching color square. So, because I have the white queen, she goes on the white square. That is always D1. The same goes for your queen, she goes on the black square,” she continues, watching as Andrea puts her queen down opposite. 

“Then the rest of the pieces get set up like this,” Lena sets hers up, and Andrea copies. 

“So do you know what every square is called?” Andrea asks. 

She nods in reply, more focused on setting up her pieces. 

“What about this one?” Andrea says and points to a random square on the board. 

The Luthor glances up and says, “C5.” 

“Huh, okay,” Andrea grins, “what about this one?” 

“F4.”

“And this one?” 

“H6.” 

“This one?”

“D4.”

“What about this one?” 

“G5,” she replies and resumes before Andrea can go on, “how do you even know I’m getting them right?”

Andrea narrows her eyes in thought. “Good point.”

Lena laughs and sits back in her chair. Starting with pawn to D4, she teaches Andrea how each piece moves that morning. 

They continue well through lunch and on into the afternoon until Andrea can stop falling into Lena’s traps and winning gets boring, even for the Luthor. She finishes her last sip of cocoa and resigns her king. “You win Rojas. Your determination is scary, you know that?” she says. 

“I’m glad you think so,” Andrea says, looking smug as she crosses her arms and leans back in her chair, “so now that I’ve won, you could come with me into Midvale to meet a boy to make up for it.”

Lena scoffs. “That’s bold. We barely know each other. What makes you think I’d sneak out just so I could third wheel?”

“You could invite Kara to join us,” Andrea suggests. 

Lena’s stomach lurches. “What?” she says, no longer smiling.

“It’s not very hard to put KD and Quarterback Kara Danvers, _who I saw you with at the party_ , together. I dated James remember? If Kara wasn’t a lesbian, I would’ve been worried by how close they are,” she chuckles. 

“Are you going to tell anyone?” 

“What? _No_. Of course not Lena,” Andrea assures her, “I know I… almost outed you that night. I’m sorry about that. I was drunk and angry and wasn’t thinking. It was wrong. But I won’t tell anyone about this. I’m just glad you won’t be going back to Veronica any time soon.”

Lena stays silent as she allows her heart to slow down in her chest. 

“So… would you come and be my wing-woman? Anything is better than being cooped up in here and we both know it.”

“Alright,” Lena says, some of her teasing slipping back into her voice, “I’ll come. When is it?”

-

On Wednesday, Lena meets Andrea in the stairwell at the bottom of the girl's dormitories. She’s dressed in her doc’s and a relaxed shirt untucked from her skirt, whilst Andrea wears a short silk dress with a casual cardigan over the top. 

They walk arm in arm to the gates where they easily bribe the receptionist and set off down into Midvale. 

The boy Andrea is meeting, William, is also on the football team at Midvale High. Luckily, when Lena had texted Kara about coming, she said she knew him well and that it was probably best if she came just in case. Apparently, William is a lightweight _and_ an angry drunk.

Andrea asks a lot of questions on the walk down, mostly about her and Kara’s relationship. Lena is more than happy to answer because, if there’s anything she’d like to talk about, it’s her girlfriend, and she hasn’t been able to gush about how gorgeous and charming and wonderful she is enough before now. Besides, it’s a million times better than the usual questions she gets from new people about her family and their scandal two years ago over Lena’s parentage. 

They reach a bar on the outskirts of the town, where Kara said all the kids from Midvale go because they’re pretty lax on ID’s, and they sit on a bench to wait when a brown-haired boy in a red and yellow Midvale Lions jacket approaches. “Andrea,” he greets them, his British accent shining through, “hello.”

“William,” she returns his flirty smile with one of her own, “you look nice.”

He’s wearing a button-up beneath his jacket and a pair of jeans. 

“You too,” he replies, his eyes roaming over her body slowly, Andrea doing the exact same to him. 

Lena coughs loudly, making Andrea remember her existence. 

“Oh um, William, this is my friend Lena from school,” Andrea introduces her, mercifully leaving out her last name, “Lena, this is William. He plays with Kara on the football team at Midvale.”

“Speak of the Devil,” William says with a whoop as he looks over their heads. 

Lena turns to find Kara approaching them in her own Midvale Lions jacket and a pair of cuffed jeans. A matching backward football cap sits on top of her head and she pulls her hands out of her back pockets as she approaches the group. “Hey William,” she greets first. 

“Alright Danvers,” he replies with a head tilt. 

“I’m Andrea,” the brunette says when Kara’s eyes land on her. 

She holds out her hand for Kara to shake and Kara chuckles at the formality but does so. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Kara,” she flashes her a friendly smile and drops her arm to wrap it around Lena, “do you wanna go inside?” 

They all nod their heads and William leads them. But before Lena can even take two steps away, Kara’s pulling her back into her body with a chaste kiss. “Mm, I missed you,” she whispers against Lena’s cheek. 

It tickles and makes her giggle into the blonde locks. “I missed you too,” she responds, “you smell really good.”

Kara laughs. “Thank you. You smell good too, like strawberries,” she says and kisses the tip of her nose. 

“Come on. We better get going before they start making out or something,” Lena says, taking Kara’s hand and unraveling herself from the embrace. 

Inside, they join Andrea and William at a tucked-away table opposite the restrooms. Andrea is busy doting over William and playing with his collar to even notice them come over.

“Shall I order some drinks?” Kara suggests. 

Lena smirks when Andrea jumps. 

“Two cokes,” William says and winks at Andrea, who smiles right back. 

Kara nods. “And what about you?” 

“A lemonade please,” Lena replies, “no ice.”

“Coming right up,” Kara drums the table as she says it and then is off towards the bar. 

After about two seconds of watching Andrea trying to teach William to pronounce ‘ _eres bella_ ’ properly, Lena butts in. 

“So. Where did you two meet?” she asks. 

“I went to see one of the football games a while ago,” Andrea answers. 

“Yeah, but she was dating James at the time, so we only started talking on Friday. I didn’t want to betray a brother like that you know?” he chuckles.

Andrea just sits back uncomfortably at the reminder of James’ infidelity and Lena winces. William doesn’t seem to notice and goes on. “I saw her stood by the drinks by herself and that’s when I asked for her number. I just thought a pretty girl like her shouldn’t be alone at a big party like that. It just seemed wrong; you know? I’m glad I did too because that’s how I got to get to know her better,” he grins over at Andrea as though what he just said was extremely romantic and not mildly misogynistic. 

“Right,” Lena replies, tight-lipped.

Andrea sends him back a smile, but when he turns back to Lena to continue talking, her smile falters into disappointment. 

Before he can say anything more, Kara comes over with two cans of coke tucked under her arm, a glass of lemonade (no ice), and a glass of orange juice. “Alright,” she says as she passes them out, “I got some peanuts too. Is anyone allergic?” 

Everyone shakes their heads as she pulls the packet from her pocket, rips it open, and places them in the middle of the table for everyone to share. Lena’s grinning over her glass and Kara spots it as she swallows a big sip of her juice. 

“What?” the blonde questions, smiling. 

“Nothing. How’s your juice?” she asks teasingly. 

Kara takes another gulp with a defiant grin on her face. “Delicious, why? You jealous?” 

Lena laughs, “not at all.”

Their tiny spell is broken when Andrea gasps. “ _What are you doing?_ ”

“Calm down posh spice, it’s just rum,” William says nonchalantly.

She looks under the table and gets a peek at William pouring the brown liquid from a flask into his half-empty coke can. “Is that a good idea William? I thought you were going away tomorrow,” Kara asks.

“Yeah, not until the afternoon. I can sleep on the flight anyway,” he shrugs and drinks, “anyone else want some?”

Everyone shakes their heads, Lena thinking of her recent hangover, Andrea of her embarrassing outburst on Friday, and Kara knowing it won’t have any effect on her. 

“Suit yourselves,” he shrugs and slumps back on his chair. 

The rest of the night is spent with Kara and Andrea getting to know each other better and making annoyingly endearing jokes about Lena, despite Andrea only just getting to know her herself. As more and more people enter the bar and the night wears on, William gets drunker and drunker. He pulled out a second flask, this time containing gin, and poured the whole thing into his empty coke can at one point. 

Lena doesn’t mind though because he doesn’t seem to be all that much of an angry drunk, but rather a stupid one- that is if Kara doesn’t try to take his drink away again. He just sits and sways for a while, occasionally asking a thoughtless question. And plus, it means her and Kara can get away with acting like a couple without it being suspicious.

It isn’t until their fourth round of drinks that William starts lagging. He finishes off his coke can of gin, slamming it on the table as he stands up abruptly and announces that he’s _going to use the restroom._

Andrea follows after him and waits outside the doors to make sure he’s okay. Leaving Kara to turn and face Lena with an attractive smile on her face. “I’m surprised he made it this far into the night. He was drinking that like it was water,” she says with a shake of her head.

“Do you think he’ll be alright?” Lena asks, sliding her hand up Kara’s thigh soothingly.

“Yeah. He’s a lightweight, but he can take a punch,” she laughs, “it’s the same in football. Don’t tell Andrea but… he only still plays because Coach didn’t want to kick him off the team.”

Lena laughs. “Not like you then? Varsity football scholarship and all.”

“Exactly,” Kara says sarcastically cocky, “not like me at all.”

They unconsciously shift closer so that Lena is almost in her lap. Lena scoffs, her hair falling into her face as she does, and Kara reaches out to push it behind her ear. “Smooth,” Lena grins as their faces are bought mere inches from each other.

“Thank you, that’s what I was going for,” Kara smiles down at her as she starts to close the gap.

But then they’re interrupted by Andrea holding up a sweaty, limp William. “A little help here,” she calls. 

Kara quickly hops up and grabs William’s other side, taking on most of the boy's weight. “Okay. Time to get some fresh air,” she says and guides them towards the door.

Andrea slips Lena a few dollars on her way out to pay for their tab with a strained smile.

-

After dropping William off at his thankfully nearby and apologetic mother’s house, they make their way back towards Mount Helena, Lena winding her hand in Kara’s and slotting her arm through Andrea’s.

She hears Andrea sniffling and pulls her in tighter. “Andrea,” she softly says, “I’m sorry. That was so awful.”

“Men are pigs,” she spits out. 

“Yeah, men are pigs,” she agrees as Andrea snuggles closer to her and Kara pats her shoulder with an understanding smile.

“I should just become a lesbian like you two,” she mumbles, and it makes them both laugh.

-

They get to the gates where Andrea goes straight through towards their dormitories, whilst Lena holds back to talk to Kara. “Thanks for coming all the way up here.”

Lena motions towards the hill they’d just trekked up in the dark.

Kara hums and steps forward, her warm hand slipping under the layers of Lena’s clothes to get to the bare skin of her back. “Where’s your room?” she asks quietly.

Lena tilts her head up to look at Kara properly. “Are you going to sneak in?” she asks. 

“Maybe,” Kara shrugs suspiciously. 

Lena narrows her eyes. “You could get caught. There are cameras,” she warns.

“Yeah, I’d assumed so. But. I won’t see you for two weeks and ‘m gonna miss you,” Kara pouts innocently as her hand slides lower. 

Heat settles low in her core and she pulls away from the blonde before they start something they can’t finish. “That building, top floor, third window on the right,” Lena answers her earlier question, pointing towards the tall brick building. 

“Yesss,” Kara pulls her in for a tight hug, “I’ll be back in ten minutes.”

She pecks Lena on the lips and then is off, sending a small wave over her shoulder as she blushes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all. 
> 
> Thank you for reading this chapter and I'm sorry for doing Andrea dirty this chapter, someone had to take the fall. 
> 
> For all those still here despite my inconsistencies, thank you so much and I love you. Your comments and kudos have meant a lot. I finally got a diagnosis for everything so I should get better and be able to write a lot more again. 
> 
> Also, if you're looking for sick fics you can expect to see a lot of those here in the coming year because that is kinda my life right now.
> 
> Stay safe :)


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